Consumer Experience of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Players During Covid-19 Lockdowns

Project of Merit Winner The Consumer Experience of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Players During COVID-19 Lockdowns Raquel Holliday, David Rogers, Dr. Natalie A. Mitchell Abstract Due to COVID-19 global lockdowns in March 2020, Nintendo’s spring release game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACHN), garnered massive popularity and unprecedented sales. The simulation game involves creating a new life on an island. As life events such as high school and college graduations, proms, weddings were cancelled, and consumers experienced anguish due to isolation, consumers took to ACHN to recreate the same life events within a digital world. Instant success led to broad acceptance with consumers sharing examples of replicated life events in gameplay on social media sites. In this study, we investigated the influence of ACHN on culture, how consumers engage and connect with others, and their adjustment to COVID-19 lockdowns through their gameplay as shared on Twitter. These inquiries center around digital virtual consumption, which is heightened during a time of a global pandemic lockdown. The research team used a combined method approach which involved gameplay and a textual analysis of 1,000 Twitter posts to assess insights and images related to ACHN gameplay. Reoccurring themes of real-life simulation, co-creation and extended-self were found in the data. An unexpected finding included a first-ever in-game political campaign and many brand integrations. Insights developed from this research indicates how deprivation and scarcity within a global pandemic yields social connection, and creative, replicated lifestyles within simulated video games, affording players full control of their mediated worlds, despite external factors producing uncertainties

Prerequisites in Behavioral Sciences and Business Revisited a Decade Later: Ongoing Opportunities for Dental Education

Introduction: Ten years ago a study reported on the lack of prerequisites in behavioral sciences and business management for entry into dental college. The primary objective of this follow-up study was to assess the current status of similar prerequisite courses in both U.S. and Canadian dental schools. Materials and Methods: Required and recommended courses in behavioral sciences and in business in each North American dental school\u27s official online publication were analyzed in December 2019. Admissions requirements were readily available in sixty-five of the sixty-eight U.S. dental schools and in all ten schools in Canada; three U.S. schools were contacted by phone to collect the information. Result: Only nine (13.2%) U.S. and four (40%) Canada schools required at least one behavioral sciences course; however, thirty-nine (57.3%) U.S. and six (60%) Canada schools recommended a behavioral sciences course, most often in psychology, sociology, or communication. Zero (0%) of the total seventy-eight dental schools required a course in business; however, eighteen (26.5%) U.S. and two (20%) Canada schools recommended a business course, most often economics. Conclusion: The authors strongly encourage the dental education community to again reconsider establishment of a minimum core of behavioral sciences and business courses as prerequisites in predoctoral dental education. Doing so will provide a much needed stronger foundation upon which to build upon in the curricula of dental schools

The roles of iPLA2, TRPM8 and TRPA1 in chemically induced cold hypersensitivity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cooling agents menthol and icilin act as agonists at TRPM8 and TRPA1. <it>In vitro</it>, activation of TRPM8 by icilin and cold, but not menthol, is dependent on the activity of a sub-type of phospholipase A2, iPLA2. Lysophospholipids (e.g. LPC) produced by PLA2 activity can also activate TRPM8. The role of TRPA1 as a primary cold sensor <it>in vitro</it> is controversial, although there is evidence that TRPA1 plays a role in behavioural responses to noxious cold stimuli. In this study, we have investigated the roles of TRPM8 and TRPA1 and the influence of iPLA2 on noxious cold sensitivities in naïve animals and after local administration of menthol, icilin and LPC. The roles of the channels in cold sensitivity were investigated in mice lacking either TRPM8 (<it>Trpm8</it>^-/-) or TRPA1 (<it>Trpa1</it>^-/-).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Intraplantar administration of icilin evoked a dose-dependent increase in sensitivity to a 10°C stimulus that was inhibited by iPLA2 inhibition with BEL. In contrast the cold hypersensitivities elicited by intraplantar menthol and LPC were not inhibited by BEL treatment. BEL had no effect on basal cold sensitivity and mechanical hypersensitivities induced by the TRPV1 agonist, capsaicin, and the P2X3 agonist α,β-methylene ATP. Both <it>Trpm</it>8^-/-and <it>Trpa1</it>^-/-mice showed longer latencies for paw withdrawal from a 10°C stimulus than wild-type littermates. Cold hypersensitivities induced by either icilin or LPC were absent in <it>Trpm8</it>^-/-mice but were retained in <it>Trpa1</it>^-/-mice. In contrast, cold hypersensitivity evoked by menthol was present in <it>Trpm8</it>^-/-mice but was lost in <it>Trpa1</it>^-/-mice.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings that iPLA2 inhibition blocked the development of cold hypersensitivity after administration of icilin but failed to affect menthol-induced hypersensitivity agree well with our earlier <it>in vitro </it>data showing a differential effect of iPLA2 inhibition on the agonist activities of these agents. The ability of LPC to induce cold hypersensitivity supports a role for iPLA2 in modulating TRPM8 activity <it>in vivo</it>. Studies on genetically modified mice demonstrated that the effects of icilin and LPC were mediated by TRPM8 and not TRPA1. In contrast, menthol-induced cold hypersensitivity was dependent on expression of TRPA1 and not TRPM8.</p

California\u27s Recall Is Not Overpowered

The recall is one of three direct democracy tools in California. Following the failed 2021 recall attempt against California Governor Gavin Newsom, the state recall process has been criticized for evolving beyond its intended purpose to the point of being overpowered and prone to abuse. After reviewing the recall’s original intent, we conduct a quantitative analysis of state and local recall attempts in California and compare this to other recall states. We conclude that the critique is unjustified. In California and elsewhere, state official recalls are frequently attempted but rarely qualify for the ballot, demonstrating that the existing recall system is an effective filter. We validate the charge that the recall is primarily a tool of out-party interests, but conclude that this is an intended design feature rather than an unanticipated defect. We conclude instead that California’s local recall is the better target for reform efforts, given its comparatively easier qualifying requirements, greater use, and higher success rates. Rather than deviating from its intended purpose, in its 110 years the California state official recall proved to be exactly what its Progressive designers intended: a voter weapon to menace and remove public officials, but one that is difficult to deploy. We frame the recall as less about politics and more about policy: recalls function as public opinion or policy polls and overall tend to validate existing policy. Finally, we conclude that most proposed reforms are solutions seeking a problem, and that California’s recall system merits just a few small procedural changes. The upshot is that the view of California’s recall as a force gone amok is incorrect

Food allergen extracts to diagnose food-induced allergic diseases

OBJECTIVE: To review the manufacturing procedures of food allergen extracts and applicable regulatory requirements from government agencies, potential approaches to standardization, and clinical application of these products. The effects of thermal processing on allergenicity of common food allergens are also considered. DATA SOURCES: A broad literature review was conducted on the natural history of food allergy, the manufacture of allergen extracts, and the allergenicity of heated food. Regulations, guidance documents, and pharmacopoeias related to food allergen extracts from the United States and Europe were also reviewed. STUDY SELECTIONS: Authoritative and peer-reviewed research articles relevant to the topic were chosen for review. Selected regulations and guidance documents are current and relevant to food allergen extracts. RESULTS: Preparation of a food allergen extract may require careful selection and identification of source materials, grinding, defatting, extraction, clarification, sterilization, and product testing. Although extractions for all products licensed in the United States are performed using raw source materials, many foods are not consumed in their raw form. Heating foods may change their allergenicity, and doing so before extraction may change their allergenicity and the composition of the final product. CONCLUSION: The manufacture of food allergen extracts requires many considerations to achieve the maximal quality of the final product. Allergen extracts for a select number of foods may be inconsistent between manufacturers or unreliable in a clinical setting, indicating a potential area for future improvement

A New Analysis of the Exoplanet Hosting System HD 6434

The current goal of exoplanetary science is not only focused on detecting but characterizing planetary systems in hopes of understanding how they formed, evolved, and relate to the Solar System. The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS) combines both radial velocity (RV) and photometric data in order to achieve unprecedented ground-based precision in the fundamental properties of nearby, bright, exoplanet-hosting systems. Here we discuss HD 6434 and its planet, HD 6434b, which has a M_p*sin(i) = 0.44 M_J mass and orbits every 22.0170 days with an eccentricity of 0.146. We have combined previously published RV data with new measurements to derive a predicted transit duration of ~6 hrs, or 0.25 days, and a transit probability of 4%. Additionally, we have photometrically observed the planetary system using both the 0.9m and 1.0m telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, covering 75.4% of the predicted transit window. We reduced the data using the automated TERMS Photometry Pipeline, developed to ensure consistent and accurate results. We determine a dispositive null result for the transit of HD 6434b, excluding the full transit to a depth of 0.9% and grazing transit due to impact parameter limitations to a depth of 1.6%Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, accepted to A