Stand-Up Comedy and Self-deprecating Humor

Stand-up comedy has been around for centuries, making people laugh for generations. Through the years the forms and techniques stand-up comedians use have shifted back and forth. Self-deprecation humor is one of these forms of humor, where the comedian pokes fun at his or herself, and it has recently become more incredibly popular in today’s society. Stand-up comedians like Louis C.K. have risen to newfound popularity by using self-deprecating humor almost completely in their sets. This paper attempts to answer the question of why audiences respond so positively to stand-up comedians who use self-deprecating humor. It does so by arguing that there are several reasons for this, including how self-deprecation is trending in other aspects of society and how self-deprecating humor rises and falls in popularity but always remain present in American humor. However the audience also feels more comfortable laughing directly at the comedian than at a certain controversial demographic, and although it is the comedian’s performance, by using self-deprecating humor, the comedian relinquishes some of his/her authority and power on stage to the audience because the audience has the power to decide whether to participate by laughing.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1135/thumbnail.jp

Evaluating the delivery, impact, costs and benefits of an active lives programme for older people living in the community

Aim Age UK Lancashire received Big Lottery funding to deliver an active lives programme from January 2012 to December 2014 to the population of West Lancashire aged over 50 years. The overall aims of the associated evaluation were to measure older people’s experiences of participating in the programme, identify the impacts on their health and well-being and their suggestions for services development, and establish the cost-benefits of the programme. Background The World Health Organisation recommends older people should be able to achieve physical, social and mental well-being throughout their lives, and that international, national and local policies should be developed to support older adults, promote their independence and well-being, and encourage physical exercise. Consequently, the West Lancashire programme was to establish preventative community support for older people to assist in improving their well-being and physical and mental health, particularly those isolated due to age-related illness or disability. It was to provide interventions not available from local social care providers. Methods A mixed methods approach was adopted, with the qualitative evaluation utilising focus groups to establish people’s experiences, identify impacts on their health and wellbeing, and suggestions for services development. This paper describes the quantitative evaluation which involved three surveys and a costs analysis. The surveys were scheduled to give timely feedback to management about programme delivery and content, and overall benefits of participation. Findings The active lives programme and groups offered a wide range of flexible and local activities that provided benefits for older people in terms of health & wellbeing, social wellbeing and quality of life, and reducing social isolation. There was interconnectivity between these benefits. The programme was delivered in an affordable and flexible manner. Such programmes should be made more widely available

Food insecurity during pregnancy in high-income countries, and maternal weight and diet: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Food insecurity is a well-established obesity driver. Less is known about food insecurity in pregnancy. This review (PROSPERO:CRD42022311669) aimed to explore associations between food insecurity, maternal obesity, gestational weight gain (GWG) and nutrition. Searches included seven databases, grey literature, references, citations, and contacting authors. Observational studies reporting data from January 1st 2008 to 21 November 2023 in high-income countries were included. Duplicate screening, data extraction and quality assessments were performed. Random effects meta-analysis estimated odds ratios (OR), mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Narrative synthesis was conducted when data could not be pooled. Database searches identified 22,272 results; 20 studies were included (n=19 North America, n=1 Europe; n=32,803 women). Food insecurity significantly increased obesity (OR 1.53 95%CI 1.39, 1.66), but not underweight (OR 1.12 95%CI 0.89, 1.34) or overweight (OR 1.18 95%CI 0.90, 1.46). Food insecurity significantly reduced GWG (MD -0.42kg 95%CI -0.62, -0.22) and increased inadequate GWG (OR 1.16 95%CI 1.05, 1.28), but not excessive GWG (OR 1.04 95%CI 0.96, 1.13). Diet outcomes were inconsistent, with some evidence of reduced vitamin E and diet quality and increased red/processed meat consumption. Further studies outside of North America are needed to inform practice and policy to support maternal health

Neutrino signals from electroweak bremsstrahlung in solar WIMP annihilation

Bremsstrahlung of $W$ and $Z$ gauge bosons, or photons, can be an important dark matter annihilation channel. In many popular models in which the annihilation to a pair of light fermions is helicity suppressed, these bremsstrahlung processes can lift the suppression and thus become the dominant annihilation channels. The resulting dark matter annihilation products contain a large, energetic, neutrino component. We consider solar WIMP annihilation in the case where electroweak bremsstrahlung dominates, and calculate the resulting neutrino spectra. The flux consists of primary neutrinos produced in processes such as $\chi\chi\rightarrow \bar{\nu}\nu Z$ and $\chi\chi\rightarrow \bar{\nu}\ell W$, and secondary neutrinos produced via the decays of gauge bosons and charged leptons. After dealing with the neutrino propagation and flavour evolution in the Sun, we consider the prospects for detection in neutrino experiments on Earth. By comparing our signal with that for annihilation to $W^+W^-$, we show that the detection prospects for the bremsstrahlung annihilation channel are favourable.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures. Discussion expanded; matches published versio

Benthic Assemblage Composition of South Atlantic Seamounts

Seamounts and oceanic islands rise from the seafloor and provide suitable habitat for a diverse range of biological assemblages including Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Whilst they have been the focus of some work globally, there has been little description of the biological and physical environments of seamounts in the South Atlantic Ocean. In this study, we characterized benthic assemblage composition from 13 seamounts and oceanic islands spanning 8–40°S within the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Ascension Island, Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Drop camera imagery was collected between 170 and 1000 m. All fauna present in images were identified and quantified, and multivariate statistics were used to describe biological assemblages and identify their environmental drivers. Benthic communities of temperate regions (Tristan da Cunha archipelago) were shown to be distinct from those found in the tropics, with latitude and depth identified as key environmental drivers of assemblage composition. Our results are consistent with the current understanding of the biogeography of the South Atlantic, both in terms of the distinction between tropical and temperate regions, and the influence of depth and water mass structure on assemblage distribution. Faunal assemblages are similar to those observed in the North Atlantic in terms of functional groups. VMEs are present within the EEZs of all three territories and are potentially protected from some threats by large marine protected areas (MPAs). Our imagery, data and analyses provide a baseline for south Atlantic seamounts so that future monitoring can establish whether existing protected status is sufficient to conserve both unique biodiversity and considerable potential for vital ecosystem services.</jats:p

The Student Movement Volume 108 Issue 4: Heritage and Harvest: No Leaf Unturned in Our History

HUMANS Autumn Has Awakened, Interviewed by Savannah Tyler Do You Even Ball? Who is Pastor Shane Anderson, really, Nehemiah Sitler Genesis Fellowship: Nurturing Faith and Diversity on Campus, Nick Bishop ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT A Musical Gift at the Alumni Weekend, Amelia Stefanescu Artist Highlight: Hispanic Heritage Month Edition, Madison Vath AU Architecture Program Part II, Katrina Johnson She and Her Cat : A Sea of Words, Amelia Stefanescu NEWS Cardinals Basketball Crash Lands on Alumni Weekend, Andrew Francis Sparks Fly for Student Missionaries in Bolivia, Nehemiah Sitler IDEAS Are Adventists Forfeiting Their Future?, Erin Beers Honduras: Discovery of America Day, Ruben Colón Midterm Tips, Sumin Lee PULSE AU Confessions: Can Free Speech Go Too Far?. Rodney Bell II Media\u27s Impact on Violence Perception in the Digital Age, Katherine Pierre Study, Study, Study, Repeat?, Anna Rybachek LAST WORD A Conversation With Lindsay, Chris Ngugihttps://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/sm-108/1003/thumbnail.jp

Depth and latitudinal gradients of diversity in seamount benthic communities

Latitudinal and bathymetric species diversity gradients in the deep sea have been identified, but studies have rarely considered these gradients across hard substratum habitats, such as seamount and oceanic island margins. This study aimed to identify whether the current understanding of latitudinal and bathymetric gradients in α-diversity (species richness) apply to seamount ecosystems, as well as ascertaining whether identifiable trends were present in seamount β-diversity along a bathymetric gradient