The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of handling peri-puberal heifers for 2 h each week on in-chute behavior, isolation behavior, and the time required for each heifer to leave the testing area; and to determine if the location of the facial hair whorl was associated with any of the behavior scores or social dominance order. Crossbred beef heifers (n = 146) were assigned to be walked through, sorted and moved through a chute for 2 hr each wk for 20 wk (HANDLED) or allowed to remain on pasture unless handling was required to treat an injury or disease (CONTROL). In-chute behavior, isolation behavior and exit times were observed and scored at the beginning (0 wk), middle (10 wk) and end of the experiment (20 wk). The facial hair whorl on each heifer was classified as being high (above the eyes), middle (between the eyes), or low (below the eyes). At the end of the experiment pairs of heifers in the HANDLED group competed for a feed source and a social dominance order was estimated. Weekly handling decreased in-chute behavior scores of heifers with facial hair whorl positions classified as medium or low, but not in heifers that exhibited a hair whorl high on their face. Cattle in the HANDLED treatment group which had an initial isolation score of 2 or 3 had the greatest improvement in temperament over the entire experiment when compared to CONTROL animals with the same initial isolation score. The calmest heifers were not negatively affected by the handling, while the most agitated animals in the HANDLED had a similar overall change in isolation score as those animals in the CONTROL group. This indicates that while weekly handling improved the temperament and behavior of heifers with intermediate temperament rating at the outset of the experiment, weekly handling seemed unnecessary for the calmest heifers and did not have a beneficial effect on the heifers rated as the most nervous and agitated at the beginning of the experiment. Social dominance rankings were positively correlated (P < 0.10) with final in-chute behavior scores, but not with the other behavior scores or heifer body weight. Cattle with the hair whorls in the middle of the forehead had higher mean social dominant rank than those with hair whorls higher or lower on the face (P < 0.03). Overall, the results of this experiment indicate that behavior testing can reveal differences in the temperament of heifers and that, other than the most nervous and agitated heifers; repeated handling could serve to improve the temperament of the animals. / Master of Science

Many historians agree that categories of human division underwent a drastic change due to European New World encounters. The shift from religious divisions to ones based on ethnicity and skin color gradually developed in early modern Europe. Hence, before natives became "red," and Europeans "white" a period existed where the differences between these cultures were utilized in a variety of means to prove similarity and difference. One element signifying difference during the early contact period was that of the beard. Hair as an identifier has a long history: through the middle ages, wildness was conveyed by hair and at times non-Christians were legally required to grow beards. Early in the sixteenth century the beard became a popular fad for white, Christian-European men, a change which some scholars have traced to European contact with beardless Amerindians. Within Europe, the beard came to represent more than otherness. A thick beard conveyed images of health, particularly sexual health; the beard came to represent virility and the beard helped to separate men from women and boys. In this paper I argue that the beard assumed a special significance within early English contacts in the Carolinas and Virginia. I examine the changing meanings of the beard and the English adoption of these meanings. I first examine the European background which helped provide the context for their first permanent colonial settlements in the New World. I next delve into travel accounts, ethnographies and artistic portrayals of the Natives in these colonies to examine how and when both sides evoked facial hair as a signifier of difference. This examination will help reveal English views of Natives during a time when their views regarding the Natives' character could affect the success of English colonial ventures. Finally, I examine why the beard failed as a sign of difference between the region's Amerindians and the English. This failure led to the adoption of other means of distinction specifically that of skin color. Hence the beard served as a first stepping stone towards what would become a fully conceptualized racial theory.

Yes / We report a genome-wide association scan in over 6,000 Latin Americans for features of scalp hair (shape, colour, greying, balding) and facial hair (beard thickness, monobrow, eyebrow thickness). We found 18 signals of association reaching genome-wide significance (P values 5 × 10−8 to 3 × 10−119), including 10 novel associations. These include novel loci for scalp hair shape and balding, and the first reported loci for hair greying, monobrow, eyebrow and beard thickness. A newly identified locus influencing hair shape includes a Q30R substitution in the Protease Serine S1 family member 53 (PRSS53). We demonstrate that this enzyme is highly expressed in the hair follicle, especially the inner root sheath, and that the Q30R substitution affects enzyme processing and secretion. The genome regions associated with hair features are enriched for signals of selection, consistent with proposals regarding the evolution of human hair.

The theoretical background to this study is Goffman's dramaturgical perspective and his concept of identity. The purpose of the study is to investigate the significance of the beard for how men present themselves in everyday life. To answer the purpose of this study, qualitative semi-structured interview was chosen as the method. Three important themes emerged through thematization. The expressive beard, the symbolic beard and the significant beard. A combination of these themes creates an overview, which together through the dramaturgical approach enables an overall picture of the beard bearer's identity. The results from this study confirm that the respondents use their beards both consciously and unconsciously to influence the environment based on the situation they are in. Furthermore, the study explores the symbolic meaning that the beard expresses and the deeper meaning that the beard has for the beard bearer. / Den teoretiska bakgrunden till denna studie är Goffmans dramaturgiska perspektiv och hans identitetsbegrepp. Syftet med studien är att undersöka skäggets betydelse för hur män framställer sig själva i vardagslivet. För att svara på syftet i denna studie valdes kvalitativ semistrukturerad intervju som metod. Genom tematisering framkom tre viktiga teman. Det uttrycksfulla skägget, det symboliska skägget och det betydelsefulla skägget. En sammansättning av dessa teman skapar en översikt, vilka gemensamt genom den dramaturgiska ansatsen möjliggör en helhetsbild av skäggbärarens identitet. Resultaten från denna studie bekräftar att respondenterna använder sitt skägg både medvetet och omedvetet för att påverka omgivningen utifrån vilken situation de befinner sig i. Vidare kartlägger studien den symboliska innebörd som skägget uttrycker samt den djupare mening som skägget har för skäggbäraren.