Superiority, control, and dominance theories of disparaging humor were reviewed, and sexist humor was studied as representative of the field. The effects of educational level and sex of subject on the judgment of humor in sexist material were investigated, utilizing a set of 50 cartoons and jokes devised to approximate overlapping standard curves on the dimensions sexist content and humor. Subjects were 71 males and 73 females, comprising 84 undergraduates and 60 doctoral graduate students. Each subject performed a forced Q sort of the jokes, with 104 rating for humor and 40 rating for sexism to establish content weights. Subjects' rankings, age, sex, and educational level were recorded upon completion of the task. Significant negative correlations were found between educational level and judgment of humor in sexist material, and female subjects judged sexist material to be significantly less funny than males. Some support was indicated for existing theories.

This thesis offers the first critical examination of the sound of laughter in Romantic poetry. Part one locates laughter in the history of ideas of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and explores the interplay between laughter and key intellectual, aesthetic, ethical, and social issues in the Romantic period. I chart a development in thinking about laughter from its primary association with ridicule and the passions up to the early decades of the eighteenth century, to its emerging symbiosis with politeness and aesthetic judgement, before a reassertion of laughter's signification of passion and naturalness by the end of the eighteenth century. Laughter provides an innovative means of mapping cultural markers, and I argue that it highlights shifts in standards and questions of taste. Informed by this analysis, part two offers a series of historically aware close readings of Romantic poetry that identify both an indebtedness to, and refutation of, earlier and contemporaneous ideas about laughter. Rather than having humour or comedy as its central concerns, this thesis identifies the pervasive and capricious influence of the sound of the laugh in the writing of Robert Burns, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Leigh Hunt, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and John Keats. I detect the heterogeneous representations of laughter in their work that runs across a diverse range of genres, poetic forms, themes, and contexts. As such, I argue against the serious versus the humorous binary which prevails in literary criticism of Romanticism, and suggest that laughter articulates the interplay between the elegiac and the comic, the sublime and the ridiculous, the solitary and the communal. Moreover, I detect a double-naturedness to the sound of laughter in Romantic poetry that registers the subject's capacity to signify both consensus and dispute. This inherent polarity creates a tension in the poems as laughter ironically challenges what it also affirms. Never singularly fixed, the sound of laughter reveals the protean nature of Romantic verse.

Bakgrund: Varje sjuksköterska har som omvårdnadsansvarig ett etiskt och juridiskt ansvar för sitt bemötande, sina bedömningar och sina beslut. En personcentrerad vård förmodas kunna återförena den humanistiska omtanken till en alltmer medicinteknisk vård utan att reducera vårdtagaren till ett passivt vårdobjekt. Kan humor vara en bidragande komponent till att göra vården mer personcentrerad?  Syfte: Syftet var att belysa humorns betydelse för personcentrerad vård. Metod: En allmän litteraturöversikt med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys baserad på nio vetenskapliga artiklar publicerade mellan 2009–2019. Resultat: Innehållsanalysen genererade tre huvudteman: humor som ett kommunikationsverktyg, humorns betydelse för relationen mellan patient och sjuksköterska, samt förhållningssätt till humor. Slutsats: Humor har en central plats inom hälso-och sjukvård för att främja personcentrerad vård och bör betraktas som något att ta på allvar. Ett salutogent humorbruk har flera positiva effekter och undergräver inte sjuksköterskans professionalism. Genom att våga initiera, använda och återgälda humoruttryck kan sjuksköterskan stärka partnerskap, patientberättelse och dokumentation för den personcentrerade vården. Författarna efterfrågar mer forskning kring manliga sjuksköterskors upplevelser av humor då artiklarna i resultatet endast inkluderade kvinnliga sjuksköterskor, förslagsvis en empirisk studie med intervjuer i en svensk kontext. / Background: All nurses have an ethical and legal responsibility for their care, assessments and decisions. Person-centered care is assumed to bring a more humane aspect to the healthcare of today, without reducing the patient to a passive care object. Could the use of humor be a way to make the healthcare more person-centered? Aim: The aim was to explore the importance of humor to person-centered care. Method: A literature review with a qualitative content analysis, based on nine scientific articles published between 2009-2019. Results: The study generated three main themes: humor as a tool for communication, the importance of humor for the nurse-patient relationship, and approaches to humor. Conclusion: Humor has a key role in healthcare to promote person-centered care, and should be taken seriously. A salutogenic use of humor has multiple positive aspects and does not undermine the professionality of the nurse. Nurses can strengthen partnership, patient stories and documentation in person-centered care by initiating, using and reciprocating humor. The authors ask for more empirical studies targeting the experiences of the use of humor by male nurses, as the articles only included female nurses, for example an empirical study based on interviews conducted in Sweden.

Humor’s effect on the audience’s relationship to the object, or speaker, of humor has often been neglected, and creating a framework by which scholars can examine how humor works to alter the relationship between audience and other fills this gap. Additionally, the definition of science fiction relies on the existence of a cognitively estranging other and under this definition, humor has not been thoroughly studied. This thesis attempts to explain how humor affects audiences cognitively, utilizing Hegel’s theory of self and other, and then applies this theoretical explanation to the field of science fiction and examines its effects. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A poesia de José Paulo Paes, produzida ao longo de mais de meio século, exibe uma considerável diversidade de formas e conteúdos, desde manifestações líricas a poemas em prosa, de experimentações visuais e fotográficas a brevíssimos textos cômicos. De forma geral, porém, a contraposição entre o desencanto e a utopia é um fundo temático que subsiste em boa parte desta obra, com oscilações entre ambos os polos. O presente trabalho sustenta que, apesar dos momentos em que há de fato um exaurimento da esperança diante do mundo e suas instituições opressoras, a tônica de sua poética é a presença de uma voz utópica, mais definida e clara até os anos 50, e que vai empalidecendo sistematicamente a partir da década seguinte, com a consagração da sociedade de consumo e do capitalismo tardio. Tal vetor de resistência atinge o quase desaparecimento, metaforizado pelos escombros, que, ainda fumegantes, conservam contudo a possibilidade da utopia. Esta, raramente enunciada de forma explícita, expressa-se primordialmente por dois modos distintos, a saber: a) a memória, primeiramente enquanto tentativa de intervenção política por meio da revisitação histórica, e posteriormente como rememoração individual, retorno à infância em uma estética tardia de natureza narrativa, de pouquíssimos efeitos poéticos, que se afasta do estilo consagrado do escritor em livros anteriores; b) o humor, que evolui de uma ironia mais direta e agressiva ao epigrama chistoso, elaborada forma poemática que consiste em obter comicidade a partir de trocadilhos, paronomásias, homonímias, enfim, com o trabalho linguístico. A partir, então, de ambas as estratégias, o poeta, de maneiras diferentes, se aproxima da oralidade, seja no ato de narrar histórias, seja na manipulação lúdica dos significantes, o que remonta às tradições de povos antigos e/ou sem uma cultura escrita. Tal retorno ao passado da humanidade (ou do sujeito, o in fans, aquele que não fala) é uma saída da História, uma negação do nefasto tempo presente e um modo de existir possível à utopia. Tal postura, em Paes, é satírica, bem como política. Por conta disso, a fim de se expandirem as possibilidades de iluminação crítica do período, faz-se ainda um painel acerca da poesia engajada e do chiste no pós-guerra brasileiro. / José Paulo Paes poetry, written throughout over fifty years, displays a considerable diversity of both form and content, ranging from lyric manifestation to prose poems, from visual and photographic experimental poetry to short comic texts. In general terms, however, the opposition discouragement/utopia is the thematic scenery that persists over most of his works, oscillating between both poles. The present dissertation defends that, in spite of several moments in which it is noticeable the fatigue of his hopes due to the world´s oppressing institutions, the major tone of his poetics is the existence of a utopian voice, more defined up to the fifties, that gradually weakens from the sixties on, after the consolidation of late capitalism and the mass consumption society. Such resistance arm practically vanishes away, which is portrayed by the metaphor \"debris\", which, nonetheless, are still \"steaming\", conserving the possibility of utopia. The latter, rarely expressed in an explicit way, is presented basically by two different modes: a) the memory, firstly as an attempt of a political intervention through the historical re-analysis, and, afterwards, by the personal remembrance, the return to childhood in a rather peculiar esthetical form: through narrative verses with no or very few poetic effects, far from the style the author used to have in previous books; b) the humor, which evolves from a more direct and sharp irony to the witty epigram, an elaborate poematic structure that obtains humor from puns, paronyms, homonyms, i.e., with the linguistic handling. Then, both strategies, in different ways, lead the poet to approach the orality in his works, be it in the act of narrating, be it in the joyful work of the signifier, which brings such poetry to the tradition of ancient societies and/or societies with no written culture. Such return to the past of humanity (or of the infant, from the Latin in fans, the one who does not speak) is an exit from History, a negation of the horrid present and a possible mode of existing for utopia. This posture, in Paes, is both satirical and political. Due to that, an after war Brazilian poetry overview has been done concerning both topics, so that they can be enlightened in such generation.

Este trabalho discute as especificidades da poesia seiscentista produzida em Portugal e no Brasil Colônia, propondo a noção de amor agudo para caracterizar sua variada lírica amorosa. Em busca desse objetivo, a leitura dos poemas segue os caminhos da imitação, termo fundamental para se compreender a produção retórico-poética dos séculos XVI e XVII. Os poemas líricos dos quais partem as análises, ou seja, tanto aqueles autorizados (ainda que, muitas vezes, com atribuições de autoria questionáveis) pelos nomes de reconhecidos poetas seiscentistas, como Antônio Barbosa Bacelar, D. Francisco Manuel de Melo, Frei Antônio das Chagas, Gregório de Matos, Jerônimo Baía, Manuel Botelho de Oliveira e Violante do Céu, quanto aqueles ditos anônimos ou de autoridades poéticas menos constituídas, como Bernardo Vieira Ravasco e Manuel de Faria e Sousa, todos eles, enquanto imitações, exigiam dos leitores ou ouvintes cultos da época o reconhecimento de seus modelos poéticos; por isso, este estudo recorre, frequentemente, a Camões e Góngora, por exemplo. Porém, imitar as auctoritates para se fazer auctoritas, no século XVII, não era apenas copiar servilmente; os poetas seiscentistas emulavam seus modelos, elaborando composições engenhosas e agudas mais adequadas ao decoro dos tempos. Desse modo, a agudeza é noção central na preceptiva retórico-poética seiscentista e, portanto, também o é neste estudo. Como se procura demonstrar, dessa poesia aguda decorre a confecção de um amor igualmente agudo, isto é, um amor que não é expressão subjetiva e original de indivíduo algum, mas que aparece em poemas cujos efeitos inesperados são retórica e poeticamente construídos. Fruto de imitações, o amor agudo é ovidiano, cortês, petrarquista, camoniano, marinista, gongórico; miscelânea de doutrinas, é platônico, estoico, epicurista, cristão; definindo-o, nesta tese, pretende-se reunir a variedade poética da lírica amorosa seiscentista, feito agudo caule que sustenta cultas flores / The present work articulates the specificities of 17th-century poetry produced in Portugal and in Colonial Brazil as it proposes the notion of witty love to characterize its diverse love lyric poems. Pursuing this perspective, the reading of these poems follows the path of imitation, a fundamental term to understand the rhetorico-poetic production of the 16th and 17th centuries. The lyric poems from which the analyses depart, that is, both those penned (despite a questionable attribution of authorship in many cases) by well-known 17th-century poets such as Antônio Barbosa Bacelar, D. Francisco Manuel de Melo, Frei Antônio das Chagas, Gregório de Matos, Jerônimo Baía, Manuel Botelho de Oliveira, and Violante do Céu, and those deemed anonymous or with a less constituted poetic authorship, such as Bernardo Vieira Ravasco and Manuel de Faria e Sousa, all these poems, as imitations, demanded that the learned readers or listeners of the time recognize their poetic models; for this reason, this study often draws from Camões and Góngora, for instance. In any event, in the 17th century imitating the auctoritates to forge auctoritas did not only mean to copy obsequiously; 17th-century poets emulated their models, crafting ingenious and witty compositions that were more suitable to the decorum in vogue. Thus wit is a central notion in 17th-century rhetorico-poetic precepts, and it will also be so in this study. As I will demonstrate, from this wit poetry ensues the crafting of an equally witty love, that is, a love that is not the subjective and original expression of any individual, but one which is present in poems whose unexpected effects are rhetorically and poetically forged. The fruit of imitations, witty love is Ovidian, courtly, Petrarchan, Camonian, Marinist, Gongorian; miscellanea of doctrines, it is Platonic, Stoic, Epicurean, Christian; by defining it in this dissertation, I intend to gather the poetic variety of 17th-century love lyric, like an acute stem that supports learned flowers

This dissertation is a qualitative study of six daughter-caregivers' narratives of their experiences in caring for their mothers who were afflicted with a progressive dementia such as Alzheimer's disease. Many correlational and experimental studies have attempted to show whether humor can be utilized to reduce stress, or promote wellbeing. Results are mixed. This outcome is due in part to the ways different kinds of humor may function in different circumstances for different individuals. Few studies have analyzed directly how humor may function in circumstances where it is generated in a natural context that is potentially threatening to highly relevant personal values. The family caregiving context provides a setting for generating narratives about how individuals cope with such circumstances. This study analyzes six caregiver narratives in terms of personal problem-solving processes and emotion regulation under conditions of chronic stress. This study addresses how caregiver-humor may function in this context. These caregivers exhibited and reported a variety of non-humorous coping strategies such as problem-solving to change aspects of the situation where appropriate. They evaluated and changed thoughts, feelings, and attitudes to develop new meaning, to find benefits, and to develop more integrated frames of reference for meeting caregiving challenges. Caregiver humor was embedded in this natural problem-solving process. This study extends support for the contentions from prior research and theory that humor can, under certain conditions, support stress relief and the development of attitudes that are conducive to promoting increased well-being in situations that seriously challenge or threaten valued outcomes. The personal experience narratives of these participants provide evidence that supports many humor theories and extends the range of their application. Participants utilized humor in ways that confront and to some extent resolve the incongruities of caregiving by regulating emotion and motivation, and by celebrating mastery and adaptation to life's challenges. The data support the proposition that, specifically, humor may diminish the impact of negative affect, and boost the motive power of positive affect in problem-solving processes. / text

Background: Fibulin-1, an extracellular matrix component and mediator in cardiac fibrosis, is expressed in cardiac valves, heart muscles and blood vessels and may contribute to different cardiovascular pathological conditions such as hypertension, aortic valve stenosis, atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease. The most conspicuous functions of fibulin-1 include cell adhesion and cell migration within the extracellular matrix (ECM). This was found to reflect vascular dysfunction contributing to the development of fibrosis in the myocardium by means of changes in the ECM, possibly as a result of inflammation. Inflammatory mediators such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and albumin have been investigated over the years for the role they play in the inflammatory processes. However, one inflammatory mediator, soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), only emerged as a potential biomarker in the development of sclerotic disease. SuPAR is a soluble bioactive form of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) secreted by inflammatory cells such as macrophages, endothelial cells and monocytes. The most profound functions of suPAR such as cell migration and cell adhesion contribute to the development of diseases such as infection, autoimmune diseases, cancer and atherosclerosis. Motivation and aim: This study was motivated by an awareness of the limited data on the potential link between fibulin-1 and suPAR, along with other markers of inflammation (CRP and albumin). We aimed to compare the levels of a marker of cardiac fibrosis (fibulin-1) and inflammatory mediators (suPAR, CRP and albumin) in African and Caucasian men and women. A second aim was to explore fibulin-1 and its potential association with these inflammatory markers independent of haemodynamic and metabolic risk factors in a bi-ethnic cohort from South Africa. Methodology: Data from the cross-sectional SAfrEIC study (South African study regarding the role of Sex, Age and Ethnicity on Insulin sensitivity and Cardiovascular function) were used, which initially included 756 participants. Our study population comprised 290 Africans (men: n=130; women: n=160) and 343 Caucasians (men: n=160; women: n=183). We excluded HIV-infected participants (n=115) as well as those with missing data (n=8). Traditional cardiovascular measurements together with the relevant biochemical analyses were done. T-tests and Chi-square tests were used to compare means and proportions between groups, respectively. Single and partial correlations were performed to determine the relationship of fibulin-1 with suPAR, CRP and albumin, with adjustments for age. SuPAR, CRP and albumin were divided into tertiles to explore the association with fibulin-1 levels, while adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Multiple regression analysis was performed to explore independent associations. Results: Participants were divided into African and Caucasian men and women due to significant interactions of the main effects of ethnicity and gender on the association of fibulin-1 with suPAR (ethnicity: F(633)=7.29; p<0.001 and gender: F(633)=7.99; p<0.001). Fibulin-1 levels were higher in African men (p=0.010), whereas CRP was higher in African women (p<0.001) compared to their Caucasian counterparts. In both gender groups suPAR levels were higher and albumin lower in Africans compared to Caucasians (p<0.006). In single regression analyses, a positive correlation existed between fibulin-1 and suPAR in African (r=0.19; p=0.028) and Caucasian men (r=0.37; p<0.001), also in African (r=0.193; p=0.028) and Caucasian women (r=0.14; p=0.036). After adjustments were applied for age, this correlation remained in African (r=0.23; p=0.010) and Caucasian men (r=0.22; p=0.005) only. An inverse correlation was found between fibulin-1 and albumin in African men (r=-0.28; p=0.002), but not in Caucasian men (r=-0.09; p=0.245). No significant correlation was found between fibulin-1 and CRP in any group. Forward stepwise regression analysis was performed in men and the previous associations between fibulin-1 and suPAR were confirmed in African and Caucasian men; along with the inverse relationship of fibulin-1 with albumin (Adj. R2=0.217; β=–0.210; p=0.013) in African men only. Conclusion: Fibulin-1 was positively associated with suPAR in African and Caucasian men, but not in women. We also found fibulin-1 to be negatively associated with albumin in African men only. These results are indicative of the presence of potential subclinical low-grade inflammation as depicted by suPAR within the extracellular matrix. This low-grade inflammation may contribute to the potential onset of cardiac fibrosis or vascular sclerosis among these South African men with lower albumin levels. / MSc (Physiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Background: Fibulin-1, an extracellular matrix component and mediator in cardiac fibrosis, is expressed in cardiac valves, heart muscles and blood vessels and may contribute to different cardiovascular pathological conditions such as hypertension, aortic valve stenosis, atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease. The most conspicuous functions of fibulin-1 include cell adhesion and cell migration within the extracellular matrix (ECM). This was found to reflect vascular dysfunction contributing to the development of fibrosis in the myocardium by means of changes in the ECM, possibly as a result of inflammation. Inflammatory mediators such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and albumin have been investigated over the years for the role they play in the inflammatory processes. However, one inflammatory mediator, soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), only emerged as a potential biomarker in the development of sclerotic disease. SuPAR is a soluble bioactive form of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) secreted by inflammatory cells such as macrophages, endothelial cells and monocytes. The most profound functions of suPAR such as cell migration and cell adhesion contribute to the development of diseases such as infection, autoimmune diseases, cancer and atherosclerosis. Motivation and aim: This study was motivated by an awareness of the limited data on the potential link between fibulin-1 and suPAR, along with other markers of inflammation (CRP and albumin). We aimed to compare the levels of a marker of cardiac fibrosis (fibulin-1) and inflammatory mediators (suPAR, CRP and albumin) in African and Caucasian men and women. A second aim was to explore fibulin-1 and its potential association with these inflammatory markers independent of haemodynamic and metabolic risk factors in a bi-ethnic cohort from South Africa. Methodology: Data from the cross-sectional SAfrEIC study (South African study regarding the role of Sex, Age and Ethnicity on Insulin sensitivity and Cardiovascular function) were used, which initially included 756 participants. Our study population comprised 290 Africans (men: n=130; women: n=160) and 343 Caucasians (men: n=160; women: n=183). We excluded HIV-infected participants (n=115) as well as those with missing data (n=8). Traditional cardiovascular measurements together with the relevant biochemical analyses were done. T-tests and Chi-square tests were used to compare means and proportions between groups, respectively. Single and partial correlations were performed to determine the relationship of fibulin-1 with suPAR, CRP and albumin, with adjustments for age. SuPAR, CRP and albumin were divided into tertiles to explore the association with fibulin-1 levels, while adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Multiple regression analysis was performed to explore independent associations. Results: Participants were divided into African and Caucasian men and women due to significant interactions of the main effects of ethnicity and gender on the association of fibulin-1 with suPAR (ethnicity: F(633)=7.29; p<0.001 and gender: F(633)=7.99; p<0.001). Fibulin-1 levels were higher in African men (p=0.010), whereas CRP was higher in African women (p<0.001) compared to their Caucasian counterparts. In both gender groups suPAR levels were higher and albumin lower in Africans compared to Caucasians (p<0.006). In single regression analyses, a positive correlation existed between fibulin-1 and suPAR in African (r=0.19; p=0.028) and Caucasian men (r=0.37; p<0.001), also in African (r=0.193; p=0.028) and Caucasian women (r=0.14; p=0.036). After adjustments were applied for age, this correlation remained in African (r=0.23; p=0.010) and Caucasian men (r=0.22; p=0.005) only. An inverse correlation was found between fibulin-1 and albumin in African men (r=-0.28; p=0.002), but not in Caucasian men (r=-0.09; p=0.245). No significant correlation was found between fibulin-1 and CRP in any group. Forward stepwise regression analysis was performed in men and the previous associations between fibulin-1 and suPAR were confirmed in African and Caucasian men; along with the inverse relationship of fibulin-1 with albumin (Adj. R2=0.217; β=–0.210; p=0.013) in African men only. Conclusion: Fibulin-1 was positively associated with suPAR in African and Caucasian men, but not in women. We also found fibulin-1 to be negatively associated with albumin in African men only. These results are indicative of the presence of potential subclinical low-grade inflammation as depicted by suPAR within the extracellular matrix. This low-grade inflammation may contribute to the potential onset of cardiac fibrosis or vascular sclerosis among these South African men with lower albumin levels. / MSc (Physiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

"Memoire présenté pour l'obtention de la maîtrise d'Enseignement de lettres modernes." / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-108).