You must be joking: the sociological critique of humour and comic media

Recent work in the sociological critique of humour and comic media has challenged the notion that humour is an absolute good. In this article we review some of the most interesting work that takes humour seriously and addresses the difficult topic of whether there are ethical limits to humour and media comedy. We outline three main reasons for taking humour seriously and review some of the ways in which humour has been studied sociologically through a consideration of how British ‘alternative’ comedy directed the work of those interested in the limits of humour in relation to gender, race and ethnicity. We also summarise some of the most controversial examples of contemporary media comedy – the comedic performances and personae of Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G and Borat) and the Danish cartoons of the Holy Prophet Muhammad – in order to illustrate the importance of the critical analysis of humour and how the ethics of humour can be applied to comic media

Discrimination of prostate cancer cells and non-malignant cells using secondary ion mass spectrometry

This communication utilises Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) combined with multivariate analysis to obtain spectra from the surfaces of three closely related cell lines allowing their discrimination based upon mass spectral ions

Automated computational cognitive-modeling: goal-specific analysis for large websites

The information architecture of websites is the most important remaining source of usability problems. Therefore, this research explores automated cognitive computational analysis of the information architecture of large websites as a basis for improvement. To support goal-specific analysis, an enhanced model of web navigation was implemented with a novel database-oriented approach. Web navigation was simulated on the information architecture of two large sites. With the improved labeling system of the information architecture, simulation results showed a significant reduction in navigation problems. The results of two experiments demonstrate that sites with improved information architecture result in better outcomes of user information retrieval. Our database-oriented approach is extensible, allowing non-goal-specific analysis, modeling of nontext media content, and analysis of the organization- and navigation systems of information architectures.</jats:p

Transmission through optically generated inductive grid arrays

A technique is developed for generating pseudometallic plasma inductive grid arrays within a semiconductor wafer. The induced plasma elements are defined by a surface impedance which is discussed. Results of an investigation into the transmission properties of a variety of array designs between 16 and 40 GHz are presented. Measurements are performed on a silicon wafer illuminated by an external optical source via a negative image mas

AdaWCT: Adaptive Whitening and Coloring Style Injection

Adaptive instance normalization (AdaIN) has become the standard method for style injection: by re-normalizing features through scale-and-shift operations, it has found widespread use in style transfer, image generation, and image-to-image translation. In this work, we present a generalization of AdaIN which relies on the whitening and coloring transformation (WCT) which we dub AdaWCT, that we apply for style injection in large GANs. We show, through experiments on the StarGANv2 architecture, that this generalization, albeit conceptually simple, results in significant improvements in the quality of the generated images.Comment: 4 pages + ref

Structure of Staphylococcus aureus cytidine monophosphate kinase in complex with cytidine 5′-monophosphate

The crystal structure of S. aureus cytidine monophosphate kinase in complex with cytidine 5′-monophosphate has been determined

Palliative and end of life care communication as emerging priorities in postgraduate medical education

Background: Reliance on surveys and qualitative studies of trainees to guide postgraduate education about palliative and end of life (EOL) communication may lead to gaps in the curriculum. We aimed to develop a deeper understanding of internal medicine trainees’ educational needs for a palliative and EOL communication curriculum and how these needs could be met.Methods: Mixed methods, including a survey and focus groups with trainees, and interviews with clinical faculty and medical educators, were applied to develop a broader perspective on current experiences and needs for further education. Quantitative descriptive and thematic analyses were conducted.Results: Surveyed trainees were least confident and least satisfied with teaching in counseling about the emotional impact of emergencies and discussing organ donation. Direct observation with feedback, small group discussion, and viewing videos of personal consultations were perceived as effective, yet infrequently identified as instructional methods. Focus groups and interviews identified goals of care conversations as the highest educational priority, with education adapted to learner needs and accompanied by feedback and concurrent clinical and organizational support.Conclusions: Our work expands on previous research describing needs for postgraduate education in palliative and EOL communication to include the importance of support, culture change, and faculty development, and provides insight into why such needs exist

An exploration of contextual dimensions impacting goals of care conversations in postgraduate medical education

BACKGROUND: Postgraduate medical trainees are not well prepared difficult conversations about goals of care with patients and families in the acute care clinical setting. While contextual nuances within the workplace can impact communication, research to date has largely focused on individual communication skills. Our objective was to explore contextual factors that influence conversations between trainees and patients/families about goals of care in the acute care setting. METHODS: We conducted an exploratory qualitative study involving five focus groups with Internal Medicine trainees (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;20) and a series of interviews with clinical faculty (n&thinsp;=&thinsp;11) within a single Canadian centre. Thematic framework analysis was applied to categorize the data and identify themes and subthemes. RESULTS: Challenges and factors enabling goals of care conversations emerged within individual, interpersonal and system dimensions. Challenges included inadequate preparation for these conversations, disconnection between trainees, faculty and patients, policies around documentation, the structure of postgraduate medical education, and resource limitations; these challenges led to missed opportunities, uncertainty and emotional distress. Enabling factors were awareness of the importance of goals of care conversations, support in these discussions, collaboration with colleagues, and educational initiatives enabling skill development; these factors have resulted in learning, appreciation, and an established foundation for future educational initiatives. CONCLUSIONS: Contextual factors impact how postgraduate medical trainees communicate with patients/families about goals of care. Attention to individual, interpersonal and system-related factors will be important in designing educational programs that help trainees develop the capacities needed for challenging conversations