Media Analysis Research Articles

The emergence of 3D-printed firearms: An analysis of media and law enforcement reports

3D-printed firearms, an emerging category of privately made firearms (PMF) produced beyond government control, have become increasingly prevalent due to technological advancements. They are now emerging as a cost-effective and reliable alternative to conventional firearms. Raised to public awareness following the 2013 release of the 3D-printed Liberator, these firearms are now more commonly encountered by police forces.This article analyses various reports involving 3D-printed firearms, reflecting the increasing encounters by law enforcement agencies. It examines 186 cases involving 3D-printed firearms, primarily from North America, Europe, and Oceania, highlighting a significant rise in incidents since 2021. These incidents include seizures, illicit uses, and online sales, with the firearms typically being hybrid models, Parts Kit Completions/Conversions (PKC), or firearm components such as auto sears. The study underscores the use of affordable equipment and materials for production, emphasizing the accessibility and potential risks of these firearms.

Statement from the Editors

Stachka! Is a journal of Marxist-Leninist Film Studies and Visual Culture. We aim to make accessible new scholarship that advances theory and practice at the intersection of visual me- dia and communist politics. Work published in Stachka! will seek to advance anti-imperialist, feminist, anti-racist, decolonial, and class-conscious perspectives in film and media analysis, emphasizing cultivating a constructive and inclusive environment for underrepresented voices. Analysis ranging from Marxist cultural theory applied to American and European Cinema, to historical content on the cinema of socialist states, to appreciation and discussion of Third Cinema is welcome. In addition to traditional articles, Stachka! aims to publish visual art, in- terviews with filmmakers and creators, short essays, reviews, and festivals. Stachka! especially encourages submissions from young scholars and scholars from diverse backgrounds. However, anyone is welcome to submit their manuscripts. We accept English, Standard Mandarin Chi- nese, Spanish, and Russian language submissions.

Media-Based Post-Event Impact Analysis of the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada.

The unprecedented 2021 Heat Dome caused wide-ranging and long-lasting impacts in western Canada, including 619 confirmed heat-related deaths in British Columbia, a doubling of emergency medical calls, increased hospitalisations, infrastructure failures and stress on plants and animals. However, such varied socio-economic consequences of extreme heat can be challenging to capture using a single post-event analysis method. Therefore, there is a need to explore alternative approaches and data sources. Using the 2021 Heat Dome as a case study, a post-event analysis using online news media articles (n = 2909) from 5 subscription news databases and a grey literature search was conducted to identify the socio-economic impacts of the extreme heat event in Canada. The articles reported a wide range of effects to the natural environment (n = 1366), social infrastructure and services (n = 1121), human health (n = 1074), critical infrastructure (n = 988) and the private sector (n = 165). The media-based post-event analysis captured various impacts, some of which have not been identified through other data sources and approaches. Overall, we show that media analysis can complement traditional post-event analysis methods and provide additional perspectives to governments and public health and safety officials.

'Broken souls' vs. 'mad ax man' - changes in the portrayal of depression and schizophrenia in the German media over 10 years.

Population studies show the stigma of depression to diminish, while the stigma of schizophrenia increases. To find out whether this widening gap is reflected in the media portrayal of both disorders, this study compares the portrayal of depression and schizophrenia in German print media in 2010 vs. 2020. We conducted a qualitative content analysis using a mixed deductive-inductive approach to establish a category system. In total, we analyzed 854 articles with the summative approach by Mayring. The study found a widening gap in the portrayal of schizophrenia and depression in German media between 2010 and 2020. Schizophrenia was depicted increasingly negative between 2010 and 2020, covering more negative stereotypes and focusing on its biological causes. Depression received increased attention and more neutral and professional coverage, with a greater emphasis on psychosocial causes and discussion of treatment options. By showing a widening gap the study highlights how media may shape public views on mental illnesses and reflects public attitudes at the same time. Media analyses from other nations have shown similar trends. This emphasizes the need for responsible reporting to combat stigma and promote understanding worldwide. Therefore, the authors recommend a balanced coverage that includes accurate professional information about all mental illnesses.

CiteSpace-based visualization and analysis of digital media arts research

Abstract As an emerging art form, the development trend and impact of digital media art have attracted much attention, and the introduction of CiteSpace tools provides a new perspective for digital media art research, making it possible to analyze the scientometrics of this field. Relevant documents in Web of Science database were selected and analyzed by CiteSpace version 5.6.R4 for research collaboration and thematic co-occurrence networks. The results show that between 2004 and 2022, the total number of digital media arts research literature is 359, of which the literature volume from 2014 to 2022 accounts for 66.85%, and the average annual number of publications is about 27, reflecting the rapid growth of research in this field. Keyword analysis shows that “digital media art”, “digital technology”, “cultural industry”, “education “ and so on have become research hotspots. Digital media art research is gradually shifting from technology and nature exploration to university discipline construction and application practice, showing the trend of cross-border cooperation of disciplines.

Machine Learning Analysis of Social Media’s Impact on Mental Health of Indian Youth

This study delves into the complex relationship between various mental health indicators and their influencing factors among Indian youths. It specifically examines how external validation, interactions on social media platforms, and demographic variables such as gender, age, and occupation impact a range of mental health outcomes. These outcomes include experiencing negative thoughts, a disinterest in activities, low self-esteem, the development of eating disorders, disturbances in sleep patterns, symptoms of depression, difficulties in concentration, and feelings of fatigue. Employing the theoretical framework of Social Cognitive Theory, this research utilized an online random sampling method to gather data from a diverse group of 151 Indian youth participants. The findings of this study highlight the significant role that external validation and social media usage play in shaping mental health conditions among the youth. This underscores the critical need for integrating digital literacy components into mental health initiatives, aiming to foster healthier online behaviors and interactions. Furthermore, the study advocates for a holistic approach to mental health care, emphasizing the consideration of the specific needs of various demographic segments. It suggests that future mental health policies and interventions should be culturally sensitive and responsive. The results of this research underscore the pressing necessity for ongoing investigations into these vital dynamics, aiming to better understand and address the mental health challenges faced by Indian youths

Preferred Information Sources and Covid-19 Vaccine Acceptance: A Comparative Analysis of Television vs. Social Media

Preferred Information Sources and Covid-19 Vaccine Acceptance: A Comparative Analysis of Television vs. Social Media

The Environment and Features of Digital Place‐Based Media at Minibus Taxi Ranks as Nontraditional Advertising Media

Despite the substantial growth in digital out‐of‐home media and the promising potential of digital place‐based media, there is a limited understanding of this medium at minibus taxi ranks. The scholarly literature mostly neglects transit advertising’s digital transformation, while practitioners are starting to recognize its potential. This paper bridges the academic‐practitioner gap by reviewing digital place‐based media’s potential within minibus taxi ranks. The integrative review process involved defining the issue, detailing contributions and research questions, and synthesizing diverse sources into a conceptual framework. This framework comprehensively portrays the environment, distinguishes traditional and nontraditional media, and explores digital place‐based media features. It offers guidelines for digital marketers, advertisers, and content managers, proposing future research areas in contextual factors, media comparisons, and DPB media features. Multiple aspects for future research are suggested across three distinct areas: contextual factors in transit media; comparative analysis of traditional and nontraditional media, focusing on their image, cost, integration with technologies, and human interaction with media; and examination of DPB media features, encompassing creativity in content creation and delivery, contextually relevant content, and digital programmatic content.

A Model for Analysis of Social Media in Adoption of Mobile Banking

A Model for Analysis of Social Media in Adoption of Mobile Banking

POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND VOTERS TRUST IN THE DIGITALIZATION OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS

The role of the state in the formation of trust institutions is undeniable, but in practice we have to face a number of difficulties. The introduction of new mechanisms and tools for electronic voting leads to the transformation of familiar algorithms in the electoral system. These changes inevitably affect all participants in the electoral process. This study is the result of a long discussion among many scholars and practitioners about the impact of electronic voting on voters' political engagement and trust in the voting process. The purpose of the study is to analyze the indicators of political activity (turnout) of voters as one of the criteria of the level of their confidence in modern technical means of counting votes - ballot processing complexes (BPCs). The object of the study is the electoral system of the Leningrad region in the context of electoral campaigns from 2014 to 2020, grouped by level: federal, regional and local elections. The main method is content analysis of scientific publications and mass media, normative analysis of legal acts, subsequent comparative and cross-system analysis of the information obtained. The experience of using BPCs presented in the article can be assessed both positively and negatively. The practice of using means of fixed electronic voting demonstrates a positive trend and opens a wide space for further digitalization of the electoral process, especially given the high "digital readiness" of the Russian population. A regularity was observed in the decrease of voter turnout at polling stations where BPCs were used for the first time. With further operation, the situation evens out due to the "habituation" of participants in the electoral process to the digital formats of elections. Because of the low overall level of trust in the institution of elections, any innovation in the electoral system leads to significant changes in routine processes and requires careful study and time for gradual implementation and adaptation.

Breakthroughs and Applications of Augmented Reality (AR) Technology in the Digital Media Field

Abstract This study pioneers the application of augmented reality (AR) in the realm of digital media, integrating AR technology with cultural education and artistic media concepts to forge a novel trajectory for digital media art creation. It delves into AR 3D scene construction technologies, employing calibration through the reconstruction of 2D image sequences, feature point extraction for spatial coordinate transformation, and 3D model development. Furthermore, it utilizes Level of Detail (LOD) models and texture mapping technologies to enhance visualization and interaction. The research culminates in a comparative analysis of traditional and AR-based media, evaluating differences in appeal and assessing functional capabilities. The findings indicate that AR-based media outperforms traditional media across several functions: media search (0.385), virtual design (0.424), immersive experience (0.466), real-time interaction (0.525), and user communication (0.396), with users expressing high satisfaction with these enhanced capabilities. This study not only diminishes the complexities associated with integrating digital media and AR technologies but also optimizes and innovates traditional methodologies.

Scrutinizing News Media Cooperation in Facebook and Twitter

In recent times, news medias avail oneself of online social media platforms for news promotion, sharing and commentary to a large extent mainly in Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. Therefore, in the literature, researchers have been used machine learning and text mining techniques to attain useful insights from the news media data in social media in-order to understand the factors for gaining large audience attention. Different to the previous studies, analyses of the news media in this work are based on a set of new features; content features such as the originality of a news item, context features such as time and circadian patterns of a news media, and reader reactions. Our dataset includes 238K tweets and 128K Facebook posts of 48 most popular news medias shared during May-June 2017. In this study we explored; news producers, news consumers, inter news production patterns, inter news dissemination behaviors, sharing similar news items within Twitter and Facebook (cross-posts), and news readers reactions on news items. In addition, we investigated the best time period to receive highest readers’ attention towards their news items as this information is useful for other news medias to understand the best time duration to publish news items. Finally, we proposed a predictive model to increase news media popularity among readers and the results manifested that, a news media should disperse its own content and need to publish at first before other news media publish the same content in social media in-order to be popular and attract the attention from readers.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Social Media's Role in Shaping Parents' Behavioural Intention for Preschool Selection

A Bibliometric Analysis of Social Media's Role in Shaping Parents' Behavioural Intention for Preschool Selection

A Bibliometric Analysis of Social Media as a Platform for Politicians

A Bibliometric Analysis of Social Media as a Platform for Politicians

Deciphering Influence on Social Media: A Comparative Analysis of Influential Account Detection Metrics in the Context of Tobacco Promotion

Influencer marketing spending in the United States was expected to surpass $6 billion in 2023. This marketing tactic poses a public health threat, as research suggests it has been utilized to undercut decades of public health progress—such as gains made against tobacco use among adolescents. Public health and public opinion researchers need practical tools to capture influential accounts on social media. Utilizing X (formerly Twitter) little cigar and cigarillo (LCC) data, we compared seven influential account detection metrics to help clarify our understanding of the functions of existing metrics and the nature of social media discussion of tobacco products. Results indicate that existing influential account detection metrics are non-harmonic and time-sensitive, capturing distinctly different users and categorically different user types. Our results also reveal that these metrics capture distinctly different conversations among influential social media accounts. Our findings suggest that public health and public opinion researchers hoping to conduct analyses of influential social media accounts need to understand each metric’s benefits and limitations and utilize more than one influential account detection metric to increase the likelihood of producing valid and reliable research.

PUBLIC RELATIONS IN THE COMMEMORATION OF KVITKA CISYK IN UKRAINE

The article presents the study results of the main stages, forms and promoters of the cult of Kvitka Cisyk in Ukraine. Kvitka Cisyk was a US citizen born in the US. However, she attached great importance to her Ukrainian origin and tried to reflect this Ukrainian ethnic self-identification in her work. However, she became much more famous worldwide because of her work as a singer for advertising products commissioned by leading American corporations than as a perform- er of Ukrainian lyrical songs. The article’s authors focused on the history and current state of public commemoration of Kvitka Cisyk in Ukraine. An interdisciplinary approach was applied; in particular, psychological hypothetical explanations were made regarding the motivation of the promoters of some commemorative actions. With the help of a comparative analysis of Ukrainian and foreign mass media, the key events, forms, and directions of the commemoration of Kvitka Cisyk on the territory of Ukraine are determined, the influence of many actions, individuals, including leaders of public opinion, on the formation of the mod- ern Ukrainian mass media image of this advertising industry figure is characterized. Systematized, in chronological order, the history of naming dozens of Ukrainian streets in honour of Kvitka Cisyk. The practical significance of the article lies, in particular, in providing recommendations and means of their imple- mentation for educational institutions that train specialists in the field of advertising and public relations. A number of hypotheses have been put forward that can stimulate further scientific explorations of the Ukrainian commemoration of Kvitka Cisyk. In the educational process, in the training of specialists in advertising and public relations, it is worth drawing more attention of future figures of the advertising business and related industries to the example of Kvitka Tsysyk’s achievements and honoring these achievements. After all, Kvitka Tsysyk is currently in Ukraine, apparently, the most glorified, honored figure in the advertising business. Receiving such recognition, immortalization in the names of streets, awards, museums, and creative contests is for many actors no less, and for some, much stronger than material reward, a stimulus for professional growth, hard work in the chosen business field.

Manufacturing exosomes for wound healing: Comparative analysis of culture media.

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived exosomes (EXs) have emerged as promising therapeutic agents for wound healing. However, the optimal conditions for manufacturing MSC-derived EXs that maximize their wound-healing potential have yet to be established. Hence, we compared the efficacy of five different MSC culture media, including three different serum-free, a platelet-supplemented, and a fetal bovine serum-supplemented media, in exosome manufacturing for wound healing applications. Although umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UCMSCs) cultured in these media exhibited similar proliferation, morphology, MSC surface marker expression, and stemness, EXs derived from UCMSCs cultured in different culture media displayed varying levels of growth factors and cytokines. Notably, EXs derived from platelet-supplemented media (DM-PLT_EXs) exhibited significantly higher concentrations of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-BB), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 7 (IL-7), and interleukin 8 (IL-8) than EXs from other media. These differences correlated with the superior capability of DM-PLT_EXs to promote human skin fibroblast proliferation and stimulate angiogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, making them a more suitable choice for wound healing applications. Our findings emphasize the significance of the culture medium selection in tailoring the therapeutic potential of UCMSC-derived EXs for wound healing.

Analysis of the representation of women in Ukrainian media content in the conditions of a full-scale war

The article deals with the problem of gender imbalance in the Ukrainian media. Despite the fact that the problem has resonance both in social practice and in scientific discourse, after two years of full-scale war, the situation regarding the balance of media content and representation of women remains complicated, has signs of regressive dynamics and requires careful research. The aim of the study is to analyze the peculiarities of the representation of women in the content of Ukrainian national and hyperlocal media in the conditions of a full-scale war. The main method is a comparative analysis of all-Ukrainian national and hyperlocal media’ monitoring data for the first quarter of 2024. Regular media monitoring shows that the domestic media publish materials with signs of sexism and gender stereotypes. Data analysis showed that the monitoring results have certain differences in quantitative and qualitative indicators. During the monitoring period, in national media, women were experts in 17% of materials, heroines – in 22.5%, in hyperlocal media – in 39.5% and 33.5% of materials, respectively. Despite certain differences in the data caused by different research approaches and methodologies, the results of both monitorings indicate a gender imbalance in the domestic media in favor of men, especially in the coverage of the topic of war; the national media landscape is characterized by an indirect reflection of gender inequality existing in society. This requires a thorough study of various aspects of this problem: social, historical, psychological, etc., and is a promising direction for further research.

Corpus-based critical discourse analysis of Chinese media's news reports on the Israeli Palestinian conflict

Corpus-based critical discourse analysis of Chinese media's news reports on the Israeli Palestinian conflict

Deep Tensor Evidence Fusion Network for Sentiment Classification

Recently, a multimodal sentiment analysis of social media has attracted increasing attention, and its core idea is to discovery heuristic fusion strategy to analyze the sentiment orientations over heterogeneous multimodal source from a learned compact multimodal representation. The existing multimodal fusion techniques not only struggle to achieve full heterogeneous data interaction, but also they are unable to dynamically assess the quality of various modal data to determine predictability. In this article, we present a novel deep tensor evidence fusion (DTEF) network for multimodal sentiment classification. First, we propose a common view evaluation network that uses a long short-term memory (LSTM) network and a tensor-based neural network to extract rich intermodal and intramodal information. Then, we propose a unique time cue evaluation network that takes advantage of the temporal granularity associated with numerous pattern sequences. To make reliable decisions, we finally incorporate uncertainty through the trusted fusion layer, which improves the accuracy and robustness of sentimental classification. Our model is validated using the CMU Multimodal Opinion Sentiment and Emotion Intensity (CMU-MOSEI) and CMU Multimodal Corpus of Sentiment Intensity (CMU-MOSI) datasets, and the experimental findings demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed network in terms of accuracy compared with the state-of-the-art methods.