Contemporary Mass Research Articles

Complex Metabolism of the Novel Neurosteroid, Ganaxolone, in Humans: A Unique Challenge for Metabolites in Safety Testing Assessment.

The human pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and excretion of [14C]-ganaxolone (GNX) were characterized in healthy male subjects (n = 8) following a single 300-mg (150 μCi) oral dose. GNX exhibited a short half-life of 4 hours in plasma, whereas total radioactivity had a half-life of 413 hours indicating extensive metabolism to long-lived metabolites. Identification of the major GNX circulating metabolites required extensive isolation and purification for liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis, together with in vitro studies, NMR spectroscopy, and synthetic chemistry support. This revealed that the major routes of GNX metabolism involved hydroxylation at the 16α-hydroxy position, stereoselective reduction of the 20-ketone to afford the corresponding 20α-hydroxysterol, and sulfation of the 3α-hydroxy group. This latter reaction yielded an unstable tertiary sulfate, which eliminated the elements of H2SO4 to introduce a double bond in the A ring. A combination of these pathways, together with oxidation of the 3β-methyl substituent to a carboxylic acid and sulfation at the 20α position, led to the major circulating metabolites in plasma, termed M2 and M17. These studies, which led to the complete or partial identification of no less than 59 metabolites of GNX, demonstrated the high complexity of the metabolic fate of this drug in humans and demonstrated that the major circulating products in plasma can result from multiple sequential processes that may not be easily replicated in animals or with animal or human in vitro systems. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Studies on the metabolism of [14C]-ganaxolone in humans revealed a complex array of products that circulated in plasma, the two major components of which were formed via an unexpected multi-step pathway. Complete structural characterization of these (disproportionate) human metabolites required extensive in vitro studies, along with contemporary mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, and synthetic chemistry efforts, which served to underscore the limitations of traditional animal studies in predicting major circulating metabolites in man.

A Survey of the Literature

AbstractDatafication has a literary history. This essay takes up that history to repair to the apparent novelty of contemporary mass personalized politics the history of the novel as one cultural technology for personifying the masses. The machinery of mass personalization was set in motion long ago. However discrepant its emergent scenes may now seem, they have been multiply fused along the way, issuing from a common substrate of survey culture. Section 1 considers a magazine humor column linking the Elmira Community Study of voting and the Kinsey Reports on sex on the basis of their shared statistical methods. Section 2 considers the American Statistical Association’s proposition that statisticians are exemplars of democracy and its warning against the popular mistrust of their cultural prominence. Section 3 recasts the “death of the novel” as a name for the disruptive force of survey culture on literary value and the displacement of the classical genre system by the mass cultural genre system. Taking up mathematical formalism in the service of social realism, popular genres—science fiction, crime fiction, and erotica—and minority literatures ascendant in the mid-century US—gay, Black, and ethnic literatures—developed modes of narrative representation for an age of statistical aggregation.

Post-occupancy evaluation of the neo-vernacular "courtyard" in contemporary mass housing. Case study: 124 duplex dwellings by the El Miniawy brothers in Biskra (Algeria)

In the vernacular housing, the courtyard is the main structural space, whether by its location, function, or symbolism. The experience of El Miniawy brothers in their project "124 logements CNEP" at Biskra with its typology was promoted as "the alternative" to the conventional and traditional "courtyard house." It was reformulated as a new multi-housing typology. Their approach is based on the conversion of the traditional house’s organisation around the "courtyard" from a horizontal to a vertical one in the contemporary house. This vision is argued by its designers as being inspired by local life way, to reformulate the "courtyard" space in a contemporary living environment. The present paper is an investigation that aims to evaluate this experimental project and see if it succeeded in convincing its residents as an alternative to both conventional contemporary housing and vernacular one. The study is based on two approaches. A literature review of the architects’ arguments to promote the typology they suggest and a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of their project, applied in two steps. The first is observation through architectural surveys and photography, and the second is a questionnaire distributed to project residents. As a main result of the confrontation of the environmental intentions of the architects, with the results of the post-occupancy evaluation, the study showed that the conceptual approach adopted for these "courtyard houses" did not give the results expected by its designers. This was manifested through several parameters studied, but mainly by the declared uses, which are very restricted compared to those provided by the courtyard in the vernacular habitation.

Why We Hate‐Watch: The Role of Nostalgia and Investment in WWE Viewership

Why We Hate‐Watch: The Role of Nostalgia and Investment in <scp>WWE</scp> Viewership

Why Early Modern Mass Incarceration Matters: The Bamberg Malefizhaus, 1627–31

In 1627, at the height of the Bamberg witch-hunt (1595–1631), the prince-bishopric erected the Malefizhaus (“witchcraft-house”), the first cellular prison purpose-built for solitary confinement. This article recovers the history of the Malefizhaus to establish the importance of imprisonment and carceral institutions to the early modern witch-craze. The prison at once concretized the ideology of the hunt and furnished a fearsome weapon of persecution, extracting the confessions without which no inquisitorial campaign could function. By reconstructing the singular architecture and internal regimen of the Malefizhaus, this article demonstrates the sophistication of early modern interrogations, a process distorted by an outsized interest in torture. Having recognized the Malefizhaus as a driver of the witch-hunt, it is possible to recognize the prison’s impact upon Bamberg’s seventeenth-century history—disrupting political and economic relationships, displacing populations, and disciplining social life. The case of the Bamberg witches’ prison counters the modernist slant of the study of the prison, proof that medieval and early modern carceral institutions shaped the history of their societies, despite smaller scales and weaker state apparatuses. In turn, the essay argues that the critical tools of carceral studies, developed to study contemporary mass incarceration, can profitably be applied to premodern practices and institutions, offering insight into patterns of violence, the development of repressive structures, and the problems of “crime” as a historical category.

The Application of Fashion Features in Commercial Space Design—A Case Study of Alexander McQueen

Contemporary mass consumers usually start from the practicality and functionality of products to the image of enterprises when shopping. Enterprises should provide a reasonable space to use the product concept that they want to convey to consumers to make an issue in the design of brand commercial space. Such commercial space design can not only accurately convey the brand culture, but also show the space concept suitable for product design, from the visual immersive feeling space and product combination. In recent years, top luxury brand companies have begun to popular new business models, and flagship stores are one of the most popular models in typical commercial building space. Alexander McQueen has made remarkable achievements not only in the field of fashion design, but also in the field of business. His works are full of fantasy and unique aesthetics. This article takes Alexander McQueen as an example, from the designer's fashion design characteristics as the core basic argument, through the design work to make relevant research and discussion, and then to the brand fashion characteristics in the commercial space. The use of a comprehensive understanding of the promotion is to convey the important role of product characteristics in commercial space.

Contemporary mass media tools and ethical consideration in mental health services

Contemporary mass media tools and ethical consideration in mental health services

Peculiarities of English Internet Discourse of Bloggers Engaged in Contemporary Mass Culture Interpretation

Peculiarities of English Internet Discourse of Bloggers Engaged in Contemporary Mass Culture Interpretation

Verbs of oscillatory motion per se in the Norwegian language: An attempt at classification

The article is an initial attempt to identify, represent, and classify verbs of oscillatory motion in Norwegian. The mentioned verbs belong to the lexical-semantic group of motion verbs, but while preserving the integral feature of the semantic group (the physical movement of living beings and objects in space), they have their own characteristic features. Verbs denoting motion in which the object, while moving from the initial point to another, tends to return to it and generally remains within the confines of a more or less defined location, are grouped as verbs of oscillatory motion. The authors of studies conducted on the material of other languages divide this group into two subgroups: verbs of oscillatory motion per se (swaying) and verbs of vibrational motion. The second subgroup is beyond the scope of this article. The linguistic material is drawn from the online explanatory Norwegian dictionary [NAOB] and supplemented with data collected from contemporary mass media sources. As a result of the study, we identified and described 32 verbs of oscillatory motion. The results of this study can be used for further typological studies of Norwegian and other languages.

GUN LAWS IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA

This article will provide a critical analysis of the causes and impacts of gun violence and the contemporary mass killings in the USA, assessing the effectiveness of federal firearm laws such as stand-your-ground, open carry, and permit laws in tackling the issue. This article places emphasis on the factors responsible for these incidents and how they were shaped, along with their immediate and long-term impacts. The significance of the Second Amendment will also be explored, along with how it is interpreted. Therefore, it will explore whether existing gun laws in the USA make it all the more difficult to bring about a sense of peace and justice in the country. After all, given the current political climate and soaring rates of gun violence in the USA, the impacts of gun laws on crime rates are important to explore. To further the investigation, this statement will be evaluated via the examination of gun laws and recent incidents.

Mediatization of politics: reflections and findings

The article, focused on the elucidation of the paradigm of mediatization in the research of media activity, examines various aspects of the concept of mediatization, presenting the experience accumulated by the mass media in the media coverage of the political process through the methods related to mediatization, understood as a primary function of contemporary mass media. The author refers to the peculiarities of mediatization, discusses the consequences of the mediatization process, characterizes the phenomenon of mediatization as an expression of the increased involvement of the mass media in the political process. Approaching the mediatization phenomenon offers the possibility of revealing some relevant aspects of the current political-media processes, including: the role of the media in the social construction of reality, mediatization as a premise for the manifestation of symbolic politics, as a resource for strengthening democracy. At the same time, the interpretation of mediatization contributes to the clarification of the conditions for the production of the political content of the media and the establishment of trends in the evolution of social interaction. The analysis of political-media realities also reveals certain risks for the mediatization process for the development of democracy, such as, for example, the fact of the attempts of the political class to preserve its functionality in the face of the extended power of the media.

Trends and uncertainties of mass-driven sea-level change in the satellite altimetry era

Abstract. Ocean mass change is one of the main drivers of present-day sea-level change (SLC). Also known as barystatic SLC, ocean mass change is caused by the exchange of freshwater between the land and the ocean, such as melting of continental ice from glaciers and ice sheets, and variations in land water storage. While many studies have quantified the present-day barystatic contribution to global mean SLC, fewer works have looked into regional changes. This study provides an analysis of regional patterns of contemporary mass redistribution associated with barystatic SLC since 1993 (the satellite altimetry era), with a focus on the uncertainty budget. We consider three types of uncertainties: intrinsic (the uncertainty from the data/model itself), temporal (related to the temporal variability in the time series) and spatial–structural (related to the spatial distribution of the mass change sources). Regional patterns (fingerprints) of barystatic SLC are computed from a range of estimates of the individual freshwater sources and used to analyze the different types of uncertainty. Combining all contributions, we find that regional sea-level trends range from −0.4 to 3.3 mm yr−1 for 2003–2016 and from −0.3 to 2.6 mm yr−1 for 1993–2016, considering the 5–95th percentile range across all grid points and depending on the choice of dataset. When all types of uncertainties from all contributions are combined, the total barystatic uncertainties regionally range from 0.6 to 1.3 mm yr−1 for 2003–2016 and from 0.4 to 0.8 mm yr−1 for 1993–2016, also depending on the dataset choice. We find that the temporal uncertainty dominates the budget, responsible on average for 65 % of the total uncertainty, followed by the spatial–structural and intrinsic uncertainties, which contribute on average 16 % and 18 %, respectively. The main source of uncertainty is the temporal uncertainty from the land water storage contribution, which is responsible for 35 %–60 % of the total uncertainty, depending on the region of interest. Another important contribution comes from the spatial–structural uncertainty from Antarctica and land water storage, which shows that different locations of mass change can lead to trend deviations larger than 20 %. As the barystatic SLC contribution and its uncertainty vary significantly from region to region, better insights into regional SLC are important for local management and adaptation planning.

Bayesian modelling of piecewise trends and discontinuities to improve the estimation of coastal vertical land motion

One of the major sources of uncertainty affecting vertical land motion (VLM) estimations are discontinuities and trend changes. Trend changes are most commonly caused by seismic deformation, but can also stem from long-term (decadal to multidecadal) surface loading changes or from local origins. Although these issues have been extensively addressed for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, there is limited knowledge of how such events can be directly detected and mitigated in VLM, derived from altimetry and tide-gauge differences (SATTG). In this study, we present a novel Bayesian approach to automatically and simultaneously detect such events, together with the statistics commonly estimated to characterize motion signatures. Next to GNSS time series, for the first time, we directly estimate discontinuities and trend changes in VLM data inferred from SATTG. We show that, compared to estimating a single linear trend, accounting for such variable velocities significantly increases the agreement of SATTG with GNSS values (on average by 0.36 mm/year) at 339 globally distributed station pairs. The Bayesian change point detection is applied to 606 SATTG and 381 GNSS time series. Observed VLM, which is identified as linear (i.e. where no significant trend changes are detected), has a substantially higher consistency with large-scale VLM effects of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and contemporary mass redistribution (CMR). The standard deviation of SATTG (and GNSS) trend differences with respect to GIA+CMR trends is by 38% (and 48%) lower for time series with constant velocity compared to variable velocities. Given that in more than a third of the SATTG time series variable velocities are detected, the results underpin the importance to account for such features, in particular to avoid extrapolation biases of coastal VLM and its influence on relative sea-level-change determination. The Bayesian approach uncovers the potential for a better characterization of SATTG VLM changes on much longer periods and is widely applicable to other geophysical time series.

Moomins Take the Floor. Finnish Trolls in Contemporary Mass Social (Media) Events

Tove Jansson (1914–2001) was an outstandingly talented Finnish-Swedish artist, recognized worldwide mostly as the creator of the Moomins. Although the last of the nine-volume series (1945–1970) about the internationally popular Finnish trolls, Moominvalley in November, was published over fifty years ago, the Moomins’ and Jansson’s popularity is still rising, which testifies to the universality and timelessness of the books as well as the thoughtful marketing strategies of Moomin Characters Ltd, the company responsible for copyright supervision. In this article I discuss the Moomin characters’ representation in three events set in contemporary (2017–2021), extratextual societal contexts, both strategically planned and co-organized by Moomin Characters Ltd and spontaneously organized by ordinary people. The motifs and figures from Moominvalley which have been applied in (1) the Invisible Child campaign, (2) the #OURSEA campaign, and/ (3) the women’s strike protests in Poland are exemplified and juxtaposed with their literary images in the nine Moomin books by Jansson. My conclusion is that the references are based on a selective reading and focus on beneficial—in specific contexts—facets. On the one hand, it proves the Moomin books’ versatility and topicality, while on the other, it is not inclusive and disregards the holistic message of the saga, which is an evolving continuum. Furthermore, this way of reading reinforces a single address of the unequivocally double-addressed series.

Resurrecting National Greatness: The Changing Faces of Golden Age in the Balkans

In this paper, I analyze the changing nationalist narratives of golden age in the Balkans. By zooming in on the case studies of the late nineteenth‐ and early twenty‐first‐century South‐East European societies, I explain how and why the images of the mythical past are articulated differently in the two historical periods. I argue that in the nineteenth century golden age rhetoric was mostly a top‐down phenomenon centered on transforming Balkan peasantry into the loyal members of their new nation‐states. By the early twenty‐first century, this process has reached its institutional limits and the golden age narratives have become a bottom‐up phenomenon: the key agents of their creation and dissemination are members of civil society, social movements, and ordinary people. I focus on the structural processes that underpin this change to explain the historical dynamics of nationalisms. The paper is based on the qualitative text analysis using nineteenth‐century and early twentieth‐century archival materials and the documents from the contemporary mass media, official records, educational materials, and popular culture in the Balkans.

Space, Place, and Countervisuality in Montgomery: A Rhetorical Analysis of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (NMPJ) is a site of conscience that simultaneously mobilizes and interrogates the neoliberal cityscape of its location in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, USA. The memorial is comprised of a monument commemorating the more than 4,000 documented lynching victims in the United States and a museum that provides the historical and contemporary contexts for lynching and other forms of racial violence. Located in an iconic city of the African American civil rights movement that is attempting to rebrand itself as a scene of racial reconciliation, the memorial mobilizes discourses of space and place to situate contemporary mass incarceration as the “unfinished business” of the era. This essay addresses the commemorative duality implicated in the NMPJ’s ability to marshal and contest the neoliberal assumptions activated through rhetorics of reconciliation, redemption, post-racialism—and, ultimately, American exceptionalism—to offer a countervisual reading of Montgomery’s cityscape.

On the Relationship between British Contemporary Art and Mass Media from the Perspective of Turner Prize

The intervention of British mass media in contemporary art turns contemporary art into a news event in Britain. Some artists and collectors with marketing strategies also use media public opinion to build personal brands, transforming cultural capital into economic capital. Turner Award is the highest award in the field of contemporary visual art in Britain, and as attractive as Oscar Award in the art world. From being unknown to today's highly authoritative art festival, the Turner Prize benefits from the extensive involvement of the media apart from the innovation of the evaluation standard. The resulting upsurge of visits and public discussions has changed the cultural impact of contemporary art on the public, promoted the prosperity of the art market, and made British contemporary art occupy a pivotal position in the world. This article attempts to take the Turner Prize as an example to analyse the relationship between mass media and contemporary art, and the positive and negative influences of mass media on British contemporary art; and to discuss how art would not fall into the trap of media and stick to its self-discipline in today's highly developed mass media.

Семантические метаморфозы праздника «Алые паруса»

The USSR staging practices, which passed into and later took roots in the post-Soviet Russian performance culture, accelerated the processes of mass culture sovietization and paved the way for the development of the utopian motives inherent in the official performative practices. This research is relevant, since the study of the properties of semantic lability of the Soviet performance forms makes it possible to clarify the functionality and cultural significance of contemporary mass performances. The Scarlet Sails Festival was chosen as a study material, since it is a sample of the Soviet performance that has been successfully integrated into the post-Soviet calendar of festivals. This paper is focused on the issue of semantic distortion of the plot and character schemes of A. Grin’s (1880–1932) fairy tale The Scarlet Sails (1922) in the context of the Soviet mass theatrical performance of the same name: The Scarlet Sails Festival (1970, directed by A. Orleansky; 1972, directed by I. Rakhlin). This research aims to analyze the semantic shifts in The Scarlet Sails theatrical performances (1970, 1972) in its dialogic connection with the literary original. The scientific problem of the paper is to reveal the mechanisms and forms of integrating the Soviet indoctrinal discourse into the texture of the theatrical performance. The reconstruction based on the archive materials shows a steady deviation from A. Grin’s original narrative towards the dominating Soviet myth. The author concludes that the principles of duplication and montage underlying the performance resulted in semantic distortion of the priority character, events, and motives. The analysis of the artistic structures of the performance reveals that the original was converted by means of generating analogous artistic forms and artificial semantic convergence that is characterized by forced superimposition of acoustic and visual quotations and ideologemes of the Soviet mass culture on A. Grin’s story. This research reveals heterogeneous elements of the performance (e.g. vows, ancestor worship, narrative of threats), which articulated the relevant axiological agenda. This research is based on the methods of reconstruction and description of the phenomena of the Soviet official performance culture within Herrmann and Gvozdev’s (Leningrad, St. Petersburg) school of theatre studies.

Contemporary mass balance on a cold Eastern Alpine ice cap as\xa0a potential link to the Holocene climate

Alpine cold ice caps are sensitive indicators of local climate. The adequate interpretation of this information in an ice core requires detailed in situ glaciological and meteorological records, of which there are few. The Weißseespitze summit ice cap (3499 m) presents an ideal case to compare past and present climate and mass balance, with limited ice flow, but close to 6000 years locked into about 10 m of ice. First-ever meteorological observations at the ice dome have revealed that over 3 years of observation most of the accumulation took place between October and December and from April to June. In the colder winter months, between January and March, wind erosion prevents accumulation. Melt occurred between June and September, ice was only affected during short periods, mainly in August, which caused ice losses of up to 0.6 m (i.e. ~ 5% of the total ice thickness). Historical data points at a loss of of 34.9 ± 10.0 m between 1893 and 2018 and almost balanced conditions between 1893 and 1914. The local evidence of ice loss lays the basis for the interpretation of past gaps in the ice core records as past warm/melt events.

Stylistic transformation of biological terminology in modern mass media

This article examines how biological terminology functions in contemporary mass media language. Additionally, it identifies the major thematic groups in biological terminology and traces their semantic changes in the language of mass media. The primary function of mass media is to highlight current problems of society and to inform ordinary people, so it is natural that scientific language is actively incorporated into journalistic narratives. Usually, the most relevant terms for society enter mass media. Everyday attention of the mass media is largely focused on issues of health, food, conservation and genetic inheritance, which inevitably activates the involvement of the terminology of the biological sciences in the attributes of this style. In the language of mass media, biological terms can function in a direct sense, performing a directly informative function and indirectly an epistemological function, popularizing new knowledge for readers, and in a figurative sense, performing stylistic and expressive functions. Terminology, used in a figurative sense, not only helps to figuratively and eloquently characterize socio-political processes, specific public figures, reproduce complex political vicissitudes, but it also becomes a tool of linguistic influence on the recipient. Among the biological terms that have undergone semantic transformations in the language of mass media, it is possible to outline separate thematic groups: names of sciences; terms for different types of organisms or groups of organisms; terms for parts of organisms; terms for biological processes, states and phenomena; terms for genetic concepts. When taken outside of its natural domain, the biological vocabulary can give journalism novelty and freshness, accuracy and effectiveness. With frequent use, the terminology becomes clear to readers and becomes part of their active vocabulary.