Ryerson University

About: Ryerson University is a education organization based out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 7671 authors who have published 20164 publications receiving 394976 citations. The organization is also known as: Ryerson Polytechnical Institute & Ryerson Institute of Technology.

Social Entrepreneurship: A Content Analysis

Abstract: Competing definitions and limited empirical research are impediments to the emerging field of social entrepreneurship. Our study provides a systematic review of the literature and empirical materials used. A standardized search of academic databases and citation analyses revealed trends in the literature. Content analysis was applied to a total of 567 unique articles from 1987 to 2008 revealing patterns in the research. A total of 274 unique case studies or examples were cited in 123 articles, and we analysed their characteristics. Generally, we found very little empirical data on the topic, confirming the need for more rigorous empirical research.

In vivo and in vitro assessment of the androgenic potential of a pulp and paper mill effluent

Abstract: The androgenic potential of a New Zealand pulp and paper mill effluent was measured by applying a combination of in vitro and in vivo bioassays with mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) and goldfish (Carassius auratus). The in vivo method assessed the rate of gonopodial development (masculinization) and alterations from normal reproductive behavior in adult female mosquitofish exposed for 21 d to untreated or secondary-treated pulp mill effluent. A second in vivo mosquitofish exposure tested the effect of glass-fiber (type C) filtration of secondary-treated effluent on rates of expression of the same endpoints. Extractable organics analyses of effluents and extracts thereof were conducted. Mosquitofish demonstrated significant masculinization on exposure to either treated or untreated effluent; the frequency of gonopodial development was reduced with effluent secondary-treatment. Male mating behavior was observed in the masculinized adult females. Glass-fiber (type F) filtration of the treated effluent eliminated the masculinizing effect, suggesting that the bioactive compounds were associated with the suspended solids. The in vitro method measured the binding of compounds within a treated thermomechanical/bleached kraft effluent extract to androgen receptors contained in goldfish testis cytosol. Exposure to extracts of either the particulate (glass-fiber filtered) or the dissolved organic fraction of the effluent produced significant binding (as indicated by the displacement of radiolabeled testosterone) to the androgen receptor in goldfish gonadal tissue. Thus, the dissolved organics extract of the treated effluent contained compounds androgenic to goldfish in vitro but not to mosquitofish in vivo. The combined in vitro and in vivo data suggest that the effluent in question could exert effects on the reproductive physiology of fishes through an androgenic mechanism. The androgenic compounds androstenedione and testosterone were not detected in the extracts used for the in vitro component of this study.

The politics of evidence on ‘domestic terrorists’: Obesity discourses and their effects

Abstract: The recent construction of an ‘obesity epidemic’ has been fueled by epidemiologically-based studies recuperated by the media and suggesting the rapid acceleration of obesity rates in the Western world. Studies linking obesity to ill-health have also exploded with more recipes on how to wage ‘a war’ on obesity and dispose of ‘domestic terrorists.’ In this paper, we assert that the fabrication of ‘evidence’ in obesity research constitutes a good example of micro-fascism at play in the contemporary scientific arena. Favoring a particular ideology and excluding alternative forms of knowledge, obesity scientists have established a dominant ‘obesity discourse’ within which obese and ‘at-risk’ bodies are constructed as lazy and expensive bodies that should be submitted to disciplinary technologies (for example, surveillance), expert investigation and regulation. Using a poststructuralist approach, we examine the politics of evidence in obesity science and explore the connections between obesity discourses and the ways in which health and the body are discursively constructed by Canadian youth.