Humor development in children

Studying children's humor development can be a window into children's social and cognitive development. According to McGhee (1974, 1976), both children and adults find jokes maximally funny when they are cognitively demanding and present an "incongruency" - that is, a violation of your expectations about how the world works. In order for an incongruency to be perceived as funny, you must have a sophisticated enough grasp of the concepts that the joke is about so that you perceive the incongruency, but at the same time, the joke must be "cognitively demanding" - that is, it can't be too obvious. This "Cognitive Congruency Principle" (McGhee, 1974, 1976; Zigler et al., 1966) has been demonstrated by showing that children in elementary school find jokes most funny when they are about concepts that children have recently mastered. Humor also contains a social component, requiring the ability to read and produce social cues to indicate that you are joking (McGhee, 1974, Hoicka & Akhtar, 2012). Hoicka and Akhtar (2012) suggested that humor was a socio-cognitive phenomenon and were curious to know if toddlers could produce novel humor, or if it all consists of copied humor patterns from their parents. They found that even children under 12 months of age "produce" humor through hide-and-seek and peekaboo games, and that many children begin to produce novel verbal and conceptual jokes around 2 years of age. Questions remain regarding the development of humor, more specifically the types of jokes/humor young children/babies use and how they differ across developmental stages. By evaluating children’s use of humor in the context of the "jokes" they engage in, we can more deeply understand why and how they use humor to communicate at their given age. (Author abstract)Hardiman, N., O'Connor, M., Carlson, J., & Magee, N. (2021). Humor development in children. Retrieved from http://academicarchive.snhu.ed

The Chest Pain Choice trial: a pilot randomized trial of a decision aid for patients with chest pain in the emergency department

Background: Chest pain is a common presenting complaint in the emergency department (ED). Despite the frequency with which clinicians evaluate patients with chest pain, accurately determining the risk of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and sharing risk information with patients is challenging. The aims of this study are (1) to develop a decision aid (CHEST PAIN CHOICE) that communicates the short-term risk of ACS and (2) to evaluate the impact of the decision aid on patient participation in decision-making and resource use. Methods/Design: This is a protocol for a parallel, 2-arm randomized trial to compare an intervention group receiving CHEST PAIN CHOICE to a control group receiving usual ED care. Adults presenting to the Saint Mary's Hospital ED in Rochester, MN USA with a primary complaint of chest pain who are being considered for admission for prolonged ED observation in a specialized unit and urgent cardiac stress testing will be eligible for enrollment. We will measure the effect of CHEST PAIN CHOICE on six outcomes: (1) patient knowledge regarding their short-term risk for ACS and the risks of radiation exposure; (2) quality of the decision making process; (3) patient and clinician acceptability and satisfaction with the decision aid; (4) the proportion of patients who decided to undergo observation unit admission and urgent cardiac stress testing; (5) economic costs and healthcare utilization; and (6) the rate of delayed or missed ACS. To capture these outcomes, we will administer patient and clinician surveys after each visit, obtain video recordings of the clinical encounters, and conduct 30-day phone follow-up. Discussion: This pilot randomized trial will develop and evaluate a decision aid for use in ED chest pain patients at low risk for ACS and provide a preliminary estimate of its effect on patient participation in decision-making and resource use

Obesity prevention in child care: A review of U.S. state regulations

<p>ABSTRACT</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To describe and contrast individual state nutrition and physical activity regulations related to childhood obesity for child care centers and family child care homes in the United States.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a review of regulations for child care facilities for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. We examined state regulations and recorded key nutrition and physical activity items that may contribute to childhood obesity. Items included in this review were: 1) Water is freely available; 2) Sugar-sweetened beverages are limited; 3) Foods of low nutritional value are limited; 4) Children are not forced to eat; 5) Food is not used as a reward; 6) Support is provided for breastfeeding and provision of breast milk; 7) Screen time is limited; and 8) Physical activity is required daily.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Considerable variation exists among state nutrition and physical activity regulations related to obesity. Tennessee had six of the eight regulations for child care centers, and Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, and Nevada had five of the eight regulations. Conversely, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Nebraska and Washington had none of the eight regulations. For family child care homes, Georgia and Nevada had five of the eight regulations; Arizona, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia had four of the eight regulations. California, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska did not have any of the regulations related to obesity for family child care homes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Many states lack specific nutrition and physical activity regulations related to childhood obesity for child care facilities. If widely implemented, enhancing state regulations could help address the obesity epidemic in young children in the United States.</p

CM-Path Molecular Diagnostics Forum-consensus statement on the development and implementation of molecular diagnostic tests in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: Pathology has evolved from a purely morphological description of cellular alterations in disease to our current ability to interrogate tissues with multiple 'omics' technologies. By utilising these techniques and others, 'molecular diagnostics' acts as the cornerstone of precision/personalised medicine by attempting to match the underlying disease mechanisms to the most appropriate targeted therapy. METHODS: Despite the promises of molecular diagnostics, significant barriers have impeded its widespread clinical adoption. Thus, the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cellular Molecular Pathology (CM-Path) initiative convened a national Molecular Diagnostics Forum to facilitate closer collaboration between clinicians, academia, industry, regulators and other key stakeholders in an attempt to overcome these. RESULTS: We agreed on a consensus 'roadmap' that should be followed during development and implementation of new molecular diagnostic tests. We identified key barriers to efficient implementation and propose possible solutions to these. In addition, we discussed the recent reconfiguration of molecular diagnostic services in NHS England and its likely impacts. CONCLUSIONS: We anticipate that this consensus statement will provide practical advice to those involved in the development of novel molecular diagnostic tests. Although primarily focusing on test adoption within the United Kingdom, we also refer to international guidelines to maximise the applicability of our recommendations

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Photolysis and Detection of Contaminants of Emerging Concern In Minnesota Waterways

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. June 2020. Major: Civil Engineering. Advisor: William Arnold. 1 computer file (PDF); xiv, 211 pages.Contaminants of emerging concern, or CECs, are a new classification of pollutants which are biologically active even at low concentrations. CECs are degraded by multiple processes in the environment, two of which are direct and indirect photolysis. While indirect photolysis in natural waters has been previously characterized, photolysis in effluent discharges from wastewater treatment plants requires further study. This work has determined that the organic matter in effluent waters are very similar across different treatment plants, more so than with natural organic matter from different locations. This includes the production of photochemically produced reactive intermediates in the effluents. It was found that effluent organic matter produces these intermediates at a higher efficiency than natural organic matter. Thus, as effluent discharge becomes a larger portion of surface water flows, the processing of CECs via photolysis may change. One group of CECs that has received limited attention is strobilurin fungicides, or strobins. Strobins are approved for many crops in the United States, and their unregulated use has been allowed in areas where severe fungal attack may occur. Strobins, however, are toxic to non-target aquatic species including Daphnia magna, fish, and freshwater mussels. Five strobin fungicides were detected in the Whitewater River in Minnesota, and their concentration often correlated with agricultural land use. While indirect photolysis of strobins is limited, direct photolysis is potentially a major pathway for strobins in sunlit surface waters. Three strobins, azoxystrobin, fluoxastrobin, and picoxystrobin, produce an isomer before decaying into multiple products. This work yields greater understanding of previously overlooked issues regarding photolysis of CECs

Strobin water samples, Whitewater River, 2019, 131 samples

LCCM

Promoting Puppetry in Prague

Puppetry emerged during the middle ages in the Czech Republic, and it has since evolved into a staple of Czech art culture. This unique art form is immensely important to the Czech people, as puppetry helped save the Czech language under German-speaking Austrian rule. Despite puppetry’s illustrious history and cultural importance, Prague puppeteers are struggling to attract and engage audiences. They are facing competition from modern entertainment such as television, the internet, and social media. The overarching goal of this project was to help promote puppetry in Prague. Through secondary research, interviews, and making a marketing video for a puppetry organization. For more information, visit our project website: https://sites.google.com/view/promotingpuppetryinpragueiqp/home