Vauhtikausi. Autoilun sukupuoli 1920-luvun Suomessa

The Age of Speed:Automobility’s Gender in the 1920s Finland The aim of this study is to analyze the connections between automobility and gender in Finland in the 1920s. In this study it is argued that the 1920s was the significant era in the Finnish history of automobility when many of the long-lasting gendered notions and cultural understandings were constructed. This study combines cultural history of technology with gender analysis. As the previous research on gender and technology has recognized, technology is a significant site of gender negotiations. Both from the cultural historical perspective and a gender perspective it is important to understand both technology and gender as cultural constructions. They were linked together and constructed each other. In other words: technology shapes gender and gender shapes technology. Historians of technology like Nina Lerman, Ruth Oldenziel and Arwen Mohun have argued that both gender and technology are about power: social, cultural, economic and political. In this study automobility means technology that can be analyzed in layers of identity, structures, institutions and representations. The source material consists of various types of historical sources, magazines and journals, advertisements, archival material together with films and literature. In the previous studies of the history of automobility gender has often been neglected. The term “gender” has also quite often been misunderstood. Some studies in the field have only focused on the early female drivers. However, far too little attention has been paid to the question, why automobility was considered as masculine sphere only. This study aims to give new insights to the previous interpretations of the history of automobility. As in various other countries also in Finland, the decade of the 1920s is characterized as a period of “modern times.” It was also the era of the automobiles. Although the number of cars in Finland was still low compared to the other European countries and the USA, in press, films and literature, images of automobiles and new women – and men – on the wheel became as an emblem of a new era. The thesis consists of three main chapters. The first main chapter focuses on the conflicts between drivers and non-drivers. The study shows how in the debate of the automobility “a driver” was constantly referred as a man and “a pedestrian” accordingly a woman, even though in the reality there were as much men and women walking on the streets and the roads. Thus, the public debate constructed and reconstructed the gendered traffic system where men were playing the key role. The second main chapter of the study analyses the automobile clubs and the cultural representations. The chapter answers the question how the concept of a driver was gendered. The Automobile clubs and the organizations of professional drivers were in a significant role in developing the early history of traffic in Finland. The Finnish Automobile Club (Suomen Automobiili Klubi, founded in 1919) was the oldest and the most powerful of all automobile organizations. The Finnish Automobile Club accepted women as members from the very beginning. The membership was strictly limited to the upper class and the very first female members were wives and daughters of the male members. However, Doctor of medicine and surgery 316 Karolina Eskelin (1867-1936) the founding member of the Club was an exception to that convention. The male members of the Finnish Automobile Club attended official international meetings and consulted Finnish authorities in traffic and road questions, whereas, female members joined car trips, picnics and social gatherings arranged by the club. Few young female members of the club drove in races and gross-country-tours. The cultural representations of drivers in the Finnish media in the 1920s both deconstructed and reconstructed the concept of gender. In Finnish press in general, motoring was seen as male dominated area. Men were represented as the experts of the automobility. The drivers’ uniforms and the automobile clubs underlined professionalism and expertise which, thus, got masculine meaning. Women were beautiful accessories in the car ads, but they were also becoming a new consumer group in the market. The representations of the female and the male drivers influenced and shaped actively the understandings of femininity and masculinity. In the third main chapter the analysis focuses on the automobile as an artifact.The automobile was considered as an artifact that primarily belonged to the masculine domain. However, the representations of the automobiles were ambivalent. The automobile was both masculine and feminine depending on the context. The representations of the automobile were also used to construct the discourse of heteronormativity.

Potencial competitivo de cultivares de soja em relação às plantas daninhas

A utilização de métodos culturais no manejo de plantas daninhas é sempre importante dentro de sistemas agrícolas conservacionistas e que visam uma menor quantidade de herbicidas no ambiente. A escolha de cultivares mais competitivos com as espécies infestantes é mais uma ferramenta dentro do manejo integrado de plantas daninhas em lavouras de soja, bem como em outras culturas. Com o objetivo de avaliar o potencial competitivo de cultivares de soja difundidos no sudoeste de Goiás, em relação às plantas daninhas, visando recomendá-los para cultivo em áreas com histórico de alta densidade de espécies infestantes, foram conduzidos dois experimentos a campo em Rio Verde, GO, sendo avaliados quatro cultivares de soja de ciclo precoce no experimento 1: Monsoy 6101, Monsoy 8001, Emgopa 316 e Coodetec 204; e quatro de ciclo médio no experimento 2: Conquista, Codetec 211, Emgopa 315 e Vencedora. Também foram avaliados dois tipos de manejo de plantas daninhas: área capinada manualmente (sem plantas daninhas) e área não-capinada (com infestação de plantas daninhas). Aos 16, 25 e 46 dias após a semeadura (DAS), avaliaram-se a altura média e a biomassa seca de plantas; aos 63 DAS, a porcentagem de cobertura do solo pelos cultivares de soja; e, ao final do ciclo, o rendimento de grãos. Todos os cultivares de soja, de ciclo precoce ou médio, exibiram queda no rendimento de grãos com o nãocontrole das plantas daninhas. Emgopa 316 e Coodetec 204 mostraram ser mais competitivos, entre os de ciclo precoce, no controle de plantas daninhas. O mesmo aconteceu com o cultivar Emgopa 315, entre os de ciclo médio. Estes últimos são os mais indicados para serem cultivados em áreas com maior incidência de plantas daninhas.

Julkisen sektorin nurkanvaltaajat

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Fungos microscópicos da Mata Atlântica de Paranapiacaba, São Paulo, Brasil

(Fungos microscópicos da Mata Atlântica de Paranapiacaba, São Paulo, Brasil). Na Mata Atlântica de Paranapiacaba, no estado de São Paulo, 1770 ocorrências de diferentes táxons de fungos foram registradas de julho de 1988 a maio de 1990. Para a água do riacho foram reportadas 319 ocorrências, 405 para o solo, 565 em folhas submersas de Alchornea triplinervia (Spreng.) M. Arg. e 481 em folhas dispostas sobre o solo. Mastigomycotina representou 316 ocorrências com 20 espécies, Zygomycotina 266 ocorrências com 13 espécies, Deuteromycotina 1107 ocorrências com 82 táxons e Ascomycotina 81 ocorrências com oito espécies. Os fungos foram isolados pelos métodos da lavagem de discos de folhas, placa de solo e iscagem utilizando substratos quitínicos, queratínicos e celulósicos. As folhas de A. triplinervia suportaram o maior número de táxons e de ocorrências de fungos, seguidas pelo solo e pela água do riacho.

De Bermudes of Summer Eylanden tot de reystogten afgepeyld door de Engelzen derwaards gedaan

Julkaisussa: De wijd-beroemde voyagien na Oost en West-Indien. Vol I

Het goudryk gewest Guiana tot de drywerse scheepstogten van der Ridder Walter Raleigh afgebakend

Julkaisussa: De wijd-beroemde voyagien na Oost en West-Indien. Vol I

t Noorder gedeelte van Virginie

Julkaisussa: De wijd-beroemde voyagien na Oost en West-Indien. Vol I

[Kirjallisuutta]

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Hormone replacement therapy increases levels of antibodies against heat shock protein 65 and certain species of oxidized low density lipoprotein

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) reduces cardiovascular risks, although the initiation of therapy may be associated with transient adverse ischemic and thrombotic events. Antibodies against heat shock protein (Hsp) and oxidized low density lipoprotein (LDL) have been found in atherosclerotic lesions and plasma of patients with coronary artery disease and may play an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of HRT on the immune response by measuring plasma levels of antibodies against Hsp 65 and LDL with a low and high degree of copper-mediated oxidative modification of 20 postmenopausal women before and 90 days after receiving orally 0.625 mg equine conjugate estrogen plus 2.5 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate per day. HRT significantly increased antibodies against Hsp 65 (0.316 ± 0.03 vs 0.558 ± 0.11) and against LDL with a low degree of oxidative modification (0.100 ± 0.01 vs 0.217 ± 0.02) (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively, ANOVA). The hormone-mediated immune response may trigger an inflammatory response within the vessel wall and potentially increase plaque burden. Whether or not this immune response is temporary or sustained and deleterious requires further investigation.

Dimensionality of the premenstrual syndrome: confirmatory factor analysis of premenstrual dysphoric symptoms among college students

Premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) seem to form a severity continuum with no clear-cut boundary. However, since the American Psychiatric Association proposed the research criteria for PMDD in 1994, there has been no agreement about the symptomatic constellation that constitutes this syndrome. The objective of the present study was to establish the core latent structure of PMDD symptoms in a non-clinical sample. Data concerning PMDD symptoms were obtained from 632 regularly menstruating college students (mean age 24.4 years, SD 5.9, range 17 to 49). For the first random half (N = 316), we performed principal component analysis (PCA) and for the remaining half (N = 316), we tested three theory-derived competing models of PMDD by confirmatory factor analysis. PCA allowed us to extract two correlated factors, i.e., dysphoric-somatic and behavioral-impairment factors. The two-dimensional latent model derived from PCA showed the best overall fit among three models tested by confirmatory factor analysis (c²53 = 64.39, P = 0.13; goodness-of-fit indices = 0.96; adjusted goodness-of-fit indices = 0.95; root mean square residual = 0.05; root mean square error of approximation = 0.03; 90%CI = 0.00 to 0.05; Akaike's information criterion = -41.61). The items "out of control" and "physical symptoms" loaded conspicuously on the first factor and "interpersonal impairment" loaded higher on the second factor. The construct validity for PMDD was accounted for by two highly correlated dimensions. These results support the argument for focusing on the core psychopathological dimension of PMDD in future studies.

Activation of endogenous angiotensin converting enzyme 2 prevents early injuries induced by hyperglycemia in rat retina

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a serious complication of diabetes mellitus that may result in blindness. We evaluated the effects of activation of endogenous angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) 2 on the early stages of DR. Rats were administered an intravenous injection of streptozotocin to induce hyperglycemia. The ACE2 activator 1-[[2-(dimethylamino) ethyl] amino]-4-(hydroxymethyl)-7-[[(4-methylphenyl) sulfonyl] oxy]-9H-xanthone 9 (XNT) was administered by daily gavage. The death of retinal ganglion cells (RGC) was evaluated in histological sections, and retinal ACE2, caspase-3, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expressions were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. XNT treatment increased ACE2 expression in retinas of hyperglycemic (HG) rats (control: 13.81±2.71 area%; HG: 14.29±4.30 area%; HG+XNT: 26.87±1.86 area%; P<0.05). Importantly, ACE2 activation significantly increased the RCG number in comparison with HG animals (control: 553.5±14.29; HG: 530.8±10.3 cells; HG+XNT: 575.3±16.5 cells; P<0.05). This effect was accompanied by a reduction in the expression of caspase-3 in RGC of the HG+XNT group when compared with untreated HG rats (control: 18.74±1.59; HG: 38.39±3.39 area%; HG+XNT: 27.83±2.80 area%; P<0.05). Treatment with XNT did not alter the VEGF expression in HG animals (P>0.05). Altogether, these findings indicate that activation of ACE2 reduced the death of retinal ganglion cells by apoptosis in HG rats.