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The article focuses on the role of memes in shaping historical understanding and engagement with the past in the digital era. Topics include the intersection of presentism and historical scholarship, the comparison between memes and Renaissance emblems as cultural expressions, and how memes offer a different relationship to history, beyond trauma and linear time.

The article focuses on the political and ideological dimensions of internet memes and their cultural significance. Topics include the evolution of memes from simple image macros to tools of political expression, the tension between memes as sameness-machines and difference-machines, and the rise of exploitable memes as templates for user engagement and social commentary.

The article focuses on the depiction of internet speech in Patricia Lockwood's "No One Is Talking About This". Topics include the use of free indirect discourse to blur personal and collective voices, the fragmentation and homogenization of language online, and the relationship between memes and the voice of the internet. The article examines how Lockwood's novel represents the fluidity of identity and voice within digital spaces.

The article focuses on the disembodied nature of chatbots and their connection to the human body. Topics include the role of bots and chatbots in online interactions, the evolution of chatbots as both memes and cultural symbols, and the impact of the body's presence or absence in virtual spaces, especially in terms of gender and race.

The article focuses on the emergence and significance of the "Dark Brandon" meme in the context of contemporary political memes. Topics include the evolution of memes as political tools, the cultural impact of online irony and "meme magic," and the contrast between right-wing and left-wing meme strategies in shaping political discourse.

The article focuses on the cultural significance and aesthetics of memes in contemporary society. Topics include the meme as both a form of social commentary and a viral cultural artifact, the tension between surface-level humor and deeper implications in memes, and the role of memes in shaping political discourse and identity.

In order to solve the problems of limited design parameters, over-reliance on manual adjustment and failure to make full use of the existing test data in the traditional proportion design, a novel intelligent optimization strategy for high performance concrete (HPC) was proposed, which integrates artificial intelligence algorithms and meta-heuristic search technology, and can realize the proportion design under the consideration of the multi-objective demand of HPC. Firstly, a database with a large amount of HPC proportion data and performance test information was constructed. Secondly, three machine learning algorithms, XGBoost, MLP and RF algorithm, were used to establish the nonlinear mapping relationship between compressive strength of concrete and the amount of material used, and the model with the best performance was selected as the strength objective function and constraints in the multi-objective optimization intelligent. Then, the Pareto optimal predicate was solved by establishing the mathematical model with the objectives of compressive strength, economy, and environmental protection, and the Pareto optimal predicate was solved by using the NSGA-II algorithm. Lastly, the unique optimal solution was obtained by combining with the ideal-point method. The proposed method was validated by practical engineering examples, and the results show that the proposed multi-objective intelligent optimization design method of high-performance concrete proportion takes into full consideration of interactions between variables, greatly reduces the number of tests, significantly improves the efficiency of the proportion design, and can provide a reference for the multi-objective intelligent proportion optimization design of HPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the differential evolution algorithm with adaptive mutation and crossover strategies (DEAMC) for solving nonlinear regression problems. The DEAMC algorithm adaptively uses two mutation strategies and two ranges of crossover rate. We evaluate its performance on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) nonlinear-regression benchmark containing many models of varying levels of difficulty and compare it with classic differential evolution (DE), enhanced differential evolution algorithm with an adaptation of switching crossover strategy (DEASC), and controlled random search methods (CRS4HC, CRS4HCe). We also apply the proposed method to solve parameter identification applications and compare it with enhanced chaotic grasshopper optimization algorithms (ECGOA), self-adaptive differential evolution with dynamic mutation and pheromone strategy (SDE-FMP), and JAYA and its variant methods. The experimental results show that DEAMC is more reliable and gives more accurate results than the compared methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural modernization can only be attained through the high-quality development of agriculture, which is made possible by the deep integration of the digital economy with traditional agriculture. From the perspective of the entire agricultural industry chain, this paper offers a theoretical and empirical examination of the digital economy's role in enabling high-quality agricultural development. The fixed effects model, convergence test, threshold model, and spatial error model were implemented based on the panel data of 13 cities in Jiangsu Province from 2013 to 2021 to validate the role of the digital economy in enabling high-quality agricultural development. The findings indicated that first, for every 1% increased in the level of digital economy development, the level of high-quality agricultural development increased by approximately 0.183%. Second, the high-quality development of agriculture had the characteristics of absolute convergence and conditional convergence, and there was a non-linear character in the role of the digital economy in the high-quality agricultural development. Third, for every 1% increase in the development level of digital inclusive finance, the level of high-quality agricultural development in surrounding areas with similar economic levels will be improved by about 0.188%.In this regard, Jiangsu Province should grasp the opportunity of the era of digital economic development, continue to strengthen the construction of digital economic development in backward areas, and attach great importance to inter-regional exchanges and cooperation in the construction of digital agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines some methodological and epistemological challenges facing meme studies and meme research. It delves into the shifts in Anglophone meme culture post-Trump and challenges the assumption that memes are generally anonymous and antagonistic by highlighting the coexistence of collegiality and pseudonymity across diverse meme communities. Moreover, it suggests that such meme cultures can transcend from online to offline realms, requiring methodological adaptations to capture this dual dimension of creativity and sociality. The paper also addresses epistemological challenges in meme studies, starting from memetics' contentious history and critiquing the dominance of cultural evolutionary theory in contemporary meme research. It brings attention to the academic tendency to follow a "Dawkins to Shifman pipeline" citation trope in meme research and advocates for a more critical approach informed by platform studies. It argues that the future of meme studies lies at the intersection of platform ideology and content economies, urging scholars to engage with historical and political transformations in digital culture for a comprehensive understanding of memes and their societal impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bài viết sử dụng lí thuyết Ngôn ngữ học Chức năng hệ thống để tiếp cận hiện tượng giao tiếp mới trên không gian kĩ thuật số mang tên Internet Meme. Thừa hưởng những đặc quyền của sự phát triển mạng ảo đương đại, Meme trên Internet có khả năng tiếp cận tức thì mà không bị ràng buộc bởi yếu tố không - thời gian. Nhờ đó, hoạt động diễn ngôn, di chuyển thông tin từ miền nguồn đến miền đích được diễn ra trong điều kiện bối cảnh hóa liên tục và đa hướng trên không gian ảo. Meme có thể được sử dụng để chuyển tải những thông điệp, tri nhận phức tạp dưới lớp vỏ của sự giải trí tức thời. Mỗi thông điệp được đóng gói trong Meme không chỉ là một đoạn thông tin ngắn mà là sản phẩm mang chức năng trao đổi của hàng loạt trải nghiệm cảm xúc, ý tưởng, tính cách, trực quan…

This article discusses the existence of aesthetics in traditional batik colors in Tuban, East Java, Indonesia, which is reflected in the appreciation of the deep values in the activity of making cloth. Batik colors have been one of the foundations for producing traditional identity values belonging to the Tuban community and have been preserved for generations. However, the existence of this aesthetic is gradually experiencing degradation due to some disruptions, such as modernity, trends, and technology, which has led to transformation. The purpose of the study is to interpret the relationship between the weakening of the existence of aesthetics in traditional Tuban batik colors and the daily behavior patterns of people in current conditions. The research method was conducted using a phenomenological approach, and it is reviewed based on the principle of memetics theory to find out the factors that cause this phenomenon. It is essential to produce a conclusion to enrich fundamental knowledge in understanding the causes of transformation in the aesthetic existence of a tradition so that it becomes the basis for consideration in taking transformative action to preserve the tradition.

A somewhat prominent view in the literature is that language provides opportunity to program the brain with 'cognitive gadgets', or 'virtual machines'. Here, I explore the possibility that thinking itself – internal symbolic responses to stimuli that are either intrinsic or extrinsic, and computational procedures that operate on these internal symbolic representations – is such a software product rather than just an emergent phenomenon of the brain's hardware being 'complex enough', or the brain processing information in a manner that is 'integrated enough'. I also present a testable hypothesis that would indicate the presence of such a thought-gadget, and briefly overview some evolutionary pre-requisites for its existence. Further, I explore some consequences the existence of such a gadget would entail for our understanding of consciousness. The nature of the gadget is left unspecified as the article is not a blueprint for the thinking gadget, but an argument in favor of its existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature selection (FS) plays a crucial role in software fault prediction (SFP), aiming to identify a subset of relevant and discriminative features from a large pool of software metrics. It serves as a critical preprocessing step in building accurate fault prediction models, enabling the identification of potential software faults early in the development life cycle and facilitating effective resource allocation for testing and maintenance activities. The study's objective is to determine how well the bat optimization algorithm (BOA) can extract the features that are most important for correctly predicting software flaws, improve the accuracy of fault prediction, reduce the dimensionality of the feature space, and mitigate the risk of overfitting, thereby enabling more effective resource utilization and better allocation of testing efforts. The forecasting models underwent testing and training utilizing a collection of software metrics, with the datasets undergoing evaluation using several different FS algorithms. An assessment was conducted by contrasting the effectiveness of multiple optimization algorithms, including evolutionary methods such as FS employing genetic algorithm (FSGA), FS employing differential evolution (FSDE), and swarm-based techniques such as FS employing ant colony optimization (FSACO), FS employing particle swarm optimization (FSPSO), FS employing firefly algorithm (FSFA), and FS employing binary grey wolf optimization algorithm (FSBGWO) in relation to FS employing bat optimization algorithm (FSBAO). The results obtained from FSBAO approach demonstrate the effectiveness in solving FS optimization problems with at most accuracy of 98.92%. Furthermore, the experimental results have been statistically validated for the greater efficiency of the proposed FSBAO algorithm. This study's findings have crucial implications for developing a software failure prediction models that is more accurate and efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Our purpose is to reconnect memetics to information, a persistent and unclear association. Information can contribute across a span of memetic research. Its obscurity restricts conversations about "information flow," the connections between "form" and "content," as well as many other topics. As information is involved in cultural activity, its clarification could focus memetic theories and applications. Design/methodology/approach: Our design captures theoretical nuance in memetics by considering a long standing conceptual issue in memetics: information. A systematic review of memetics is provided by making use of the term information across literature. We additionally provide a citation analysis and close readings of what "information" means within the corpus. Findings: Our initial corpus is narrowed to 128 pivotal memetic publications. From these publications, we provide a citation analysis of memetic studies. Theoretical directions of memetics in the informational context are outlined and developed. We outline two main discussion spaces, survey theoretical interests and describe where and when information is important to memetic discussion. We also find that there are continuities in goals which connect Dawkins's meme with internet meme studies. Originality/value: To our knowledge, this is the broadest, most inclusive review of memetics conducted, making use of a unique approach to studying information-oriented discourse across a corpus. In doing so, we provide information researchers areas in which they might contribute theoretical clarity in diverse memetic approaches. Additionally, we borrow the notion of "conceptual troublemakers" to contribute a corpus collection strategy which might be valuable for future literature reviews with conceptual difficulties arising from interdisciplinary study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Binary metaheuristic algorithms prove to be invaluable for solving binary optimization problems. This paper proposes a binary variant of the peacock algorithm (PA) for feature selection. PA, a recent metaheuristic algorithm, is built upon lekking and mating behaviors of peacocks and peahens. While designing the binary variant, two major shortcomings of PA (lek formation and offspring generation) were identified and addressed. Eight binary variants of PA are also proposed and compared over mean fitness to identify the best variant, called binary peacock algorithm (bPA). To validate bPA's performance experiments are conducted using 34 benchmark datasets and results are compared with eight well-known binary metaheuristic algorithms. The results show that bPA classifies 30 datasets with highest accuracy and extracts minimum features in 32 datasets, achieving up to 99.80% reduction in the feature subset size in the dataset with maximum features. bPA attained rank 1 in Friedman rank test over all parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following study focuses on the use of memes on social media, their prevalence in conversation and their usage based on the age of the contributors. The main question it asks is whether the use of memes in computer-mediated discourse is a momentary trend or whether it exhibits signs of continuous language evolution. A quantitative linguistic study is employed to answer this question within the scope of the study. The environment of the study, the social media platform analyzed, is Facebook. The article looks at popular pages on Facebook and user reactions to the posts made by their administrators. It identifies memetic responses among them to observe their prevalence within this digital discourse, then it compares them to the user age data available. Based on the quantitative results, the study shows whether the use of memes rises exponentially the lower the approximate age of the user. The most recent demographic studies of Facebook at the time the study was conducted are employed and compared to the quantitative results to surmise whether the result bears traits of digital language evolution. Within the scope of the study and the selected dataset, it demonstrates the aforementioned traits in younger generations and their prevalence on social media. The article provides an example, and a baseline data analysis, of how meme usage rises with younger generations, as well as insights into usage by older generations and discrepancies in digital language evolution markers.

Introduction. The purpose article is to consider the representation of the image of a scientific supervisor based on Internet memes containing a multimodal metaphor. The relevance of the topic is due to the growing interest of the interdisciplinary scientific community in the study of the Internet meme as a social, linguistic, psychological phenomenon of interpersonal communication. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that until now there have been no attempts to study the representation of the academic community from the perspective of the theory of conceptual metaphor using the material of Internet memes. Methodology and sources. The methodological basis of the study was the works of linguists and cognitive scientists J. Lakoff, M. Johnson, R. Dawkins, V. Aldrich, Ch. Forsville, B. Dancygier and L. Vandelanotte. The concept of visual metaphor and multimodality is defined, the role of multimodal metaphor in Internet discourse is described, the features of the functioning of multimodal metaphor are revealed. The material for the study was Internet memes representing various aspects of interaction in the academic environment. To systematize the units, a continuous sampling method was used, along with pragmalinguistic, contextual and semantic analysis. Results and discussion. The Internet memes containing a multimodal metaphor that represents the image of a scientific supervisor and illustrates the relationship between graduate students and their mentors were found and analyzed in the paper. To select the material, a search containing the keywords “scientific supervisor”, “Phd student”, “advisor” was performed. The sources of the memes were the podcasts “The Struggling Scientists”, “The Meming Phd”, “High impact PhD memes”. By selecting keywords, 85 Internet memes were identified in which metaphorical transfers of the above images were found. Based on the data obtained, 4 metaphorical models that most clearly illustrate the relationships between the supervisor and the student were proposed. Conclusion. The study showed that multimodal metaphor is an integral part of modern Internet communication and is an effective way of influencing the addressee. Internet memes representing the image of a scientific supervisor were analyzed and systematized; 4 metaphorical mappings (“Scientific supervisor is a loving/caring parent”, “Scientific supervisor is a Jedi”, “Scientific supervisor is a monster/maniac”, “Scientific supervisor is a bad boss”) are highlighted and described. It was revealed that the considered Internet memes are characterized by the replacement of the verbal component with a non-verbal (graphic) one in the target domain or in the source domain. The studied metaphorical models reflect the most pressing problems of the academic community. The expressiveness of the metaphor used is achieved through the use of movie characters in the source domain or target domain. The metaphorical potential of Internet memes as semantic-semiotic units of Internet discourse is undoubtedly a promising area for further study.

The evolution of human communication and culture is among the most significant—and challenging—questions we face in attempting to understand the evolution of our species. This article takes up two frameworks for theorizing about human communication and culture, namely, Jackendoff's Parallel Architecture of the human language faculty, and the cultural evolutionary framework of Memetics. The aim is to show that the two frameworks uniquely complement one another in some theoretically important ways. In particular, the Parallel Architecture's account of the lexicon significantly expands the range of linguistic phenomena that are plausibly covered by Memetics (e.g., from words to constructions and pure rules of syntax). At the same time, taking a “meme's‐eye‐view” of the lexicon retools the Parallel Architecture's treatment of the origins and subsequent cultural evolution of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasingly ubiquitous digital communities have become dynamic online social hubs for netizens to proliferate internet memes. While there have been an abundance of studies of memes, a dearth of investigations have examined how an internet user becomes an active producer of memes. Hence, we explored the narratives of two Filipino netizens, whom we call "memeifiers," as we identified them as constant generators of memes. Based on the semi-structured interview data and analysis of their memes, we metaphorically posit that digital communities can be likened to online gardens where butterflies (memeifiers) dynamically engage in producing and pollinating memes. Using narrative configuration, we labelled their experiences into metamorphic narratives with three stages: (1) the cocoon stage, in which meme literacy is formed through active memes consumption; (2) the metamorphosis stage, in which meme-literate netizens vigorously generate memes then metamorphose into memeifiers; and finally, (3) the pollination stage, when memeifiers, akin to butterflies, continuously become cultural pollinators as they spread cultural artifacts through memes in various online communities. With these findings, we lay down some recommendations for future meme studies, such as that the metamorphic narrative of memeifiers be investigated in other geographical contexts since a memeifier's story may vary due to cultural differences. Moreover, we recommend that the scope of participants be broadened, employing similar or other qualitative research designs and even quantitative perspectives to further scrutinize the metamorphosis of memeifiers and their roles as cultural pollinators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the interplay between the creation of 'meme factories' by political elites, and their operationalisation through WhatsApp. It uses the case study of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's) bid for re-election in 2019 to argue that political elites are leveraging meme culture's association with popular voice to 'astroturf' public discourse, and that WhatsApp's unique infrastructure advances that project. Drawing on interview data, we offer a holistic picture of the processes and structures implicated in this instance of astroturfing, with a focus on how WhatsApp is positioned within them. The authors' access to campaigners affords a rare inside view of these processes and structures, and contributes to a growing body of work on the WhatsAppification of election campaigns globally. In addition, the article builds on scholarship on social media election campaigning in Indonesia by drawing attention to the role WhatsApp's unique features play in surreptitiously influencing public discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In mining areas with high groundwater tables, mining subsidence can lead to the inundation of cropland by water, causing damage to cropland and posing a threat to national food security. The implementation of concurrent mining and reclamation techniques can effectively enhance the reclamation rate of cropland. This technique requires engineers to initiate reclamation measures before cropland waterlogging occurs. Therefore, when mining a panel underground, an accurate calculation of the time when cropland becomes waterlogged, known as the theoretical reclamation timing, is crucial. To address this issue, this study proposes a computational method for the theoretical reclamation timing of cropland under the conditions of single-panel mining based on intelligent optimization algorithms. In addition, this paper also proposes an optimization method for the theoretical reclamation timing of cropland within a district based on an intelligent optimization algorithm. Utilizing this method makes optimizing the layout of multiple panels possible, thereby delaying the theoretical reclamation timing for cropland within a district. This approach aims to shorten the duration of reclamation projects and minimize their interference with agricultural activities. Through experimental validation, this paper demonstrates the reliability of these two methods. This study is beneficial for the rational planning of reclamation projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how Internet memes can be traced as nodal points for the study of online groups. Such 'meme tracing' is specifically pertinent to the study of anonymous imageboards like 4chan, where inquiry cannot be easily based on the individual. Drawing from actor-network theory, I argue 'panoramic memes' – memes that repeatedly paint a totalising picture of a collective – are especially useful to identify what narratives hold such anonymous groups together. To operationalise this, I conducted a qualitative-quantitative case study of '/ourguy/': a meme used to suggest a certain public figure is representative of the beliefs of an entire group. Using text mining methods, I traced this term to the names of public figures on 4chan's far-right /pol/ board. This reveals that Donald Trump and Robert Mueller were most commonly proposed as an '/ourguy/' between 2016 and 2020, while the meme was entangled with conspiracy creation and far-right mobilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We live in an image society, where the use of iconic and visual devices has gained strength. Furthermore, it is a society where citizens produce their own content and circulate it through their social media channels, disseminating ideas, philosophies, thoughts and, in some cases, misinformation. From there arises memetics, the subject of the study, and its insertion into the contemporary media ecosystem, since memetics and massive misinformation result from the media ecology in which we currently live. For the article, we basically worked with bibliographic research and, from that, we developed a reflection on memetics in the contemporary media ecosystem, as well as its potential connection with misinformation. We hope that the article, which has an exploratory nature, can offer support for various other investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of the article is to study the use of electronic search systems during the investigation of corruption crimes in the context of the balance of interests of criminal justice and ensuring guarantees of human rights and freedoms. Methodology. In the process of scientific research, the following methods were used: dialectical, logical, dogmatic, monographic, systemic and structural, comparative and legal, sociological, legal modelling. Research results. It was established that in accordance with the developed and tested methods investigators use various information systems when investigating on corruption crimes; the content and features of these schemes were studied. International documents establishing the limits of the possible use of artificial intelligence in criminal proceedings were considered. The decisions of the ECtHR on the need for a balanced approach to interference with privacy and delimitation of such interference, were studied. Practical implementation. The ways to achieve a balance of the interests of the parties in the criminal procedural legislation of European countries were investigated in order to implement their positive experience in Ukraine. Value/originality. The principles, on which the process of regulating the use of electronic search systems, databases, algorithms and artificial intelligence in the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine should be based, are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the resurgence of the monstrous feminine in digital culture, focusing on the memetic manifestation of witches, sirens, and leviathans. We trace the histories of these figures in the digital present, dwelling with their legacies to map and document the feminist resistance that has emerged in response to the neoliberal, misogynist culture of digital space that seeks to stamp out transgression. These media ecologies of the internet thrive on the networked misogyny, white supremacy, and polarization of their systems, brought in by the tech bros who coded them. From within these conditions, we illustrate how digital witches, sirens, and leviathans fight back, offering resistance that transcends digital bounds. In the face of the misogyny of digital culture at large, we argue that each of these figures linger, haunting as they embody, ground, and serve anti-capitalist feminist resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an elitism-crossover barnacle mating optimization (ECBMO). It is an improvement of barnacle mating optimization (BMO). The original BMO suffers from local optima problem leading to a low accurate solution. A new method of offspring generation is adopted into the original BMO structure. Some features of the best-so-far solution are incorporated into the generated offspring. The accuracy performance of the proposed algorithm is tested on several IEEE functions. A statistical analysis is conducted to compare its performance over the original BMO. It is also applied to optimize proportional integral derivative (PID) parameters for controlling output voltage of a buck converter. Result of benchmark functions test shows the proposed algorithm has attained higher accuracy for all functions compared to BMO algorithm. Application on the real problem shows both algorithms control the converter voltage satisfactorily. However, the ECBMO has achieved more optimal PID parameters and leading to a better output voltage response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridging the "digital divide" to benefit from the "digital dividend" reflects the inclusive development of the digital economy, which affects the sustainable development of the overall economy and society. Based on the different spatial perspectives of certain regions, city clusters, and cities, this study presents the "digital divide" and "digital dividend" for the development of China's digital economy. A combined entropy method was used to measure the development of the digital economy in cities of China from 2011 to 2019. The Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition were used to explore the spatial differences of the digital economy and their sources, while the coefficient of variation and the spatial panel model were used to examine the convergence of the digital economy. Our findings suggest that the development level of the digital economy in Chinese cities has continuously improved. Second, the spatial differences of the digital economy in the four regions and nine city clusters of China that were investigated are decreasing, indicating that the "digital divide" is narrowing and presenting a significant "digital dividend." The total differences were mainly owing to those between the regions (among the city clusters). Third, the development of the digital economy in the four regions and nine city clusters demonstrated characteristics of σ, β, and club convergences. Finally, the evolution path of the spatial differentiation of the digital economy in cities of China is presented, and the "digital dividend" also demonstrates different stage characteristics. This study analyzed the spatial differences in the digital economy of cities in China and clarified the convergence and influence mechanisms of its development at different spatial scales. The findings provide a basis for the evolution of spatial and temporal patterns of the digital economy of cities in China and presents policy implications for promoting the regionally coordinated and sustainable development of the digital economy. Suggestions from the national and regional levels are more necessary to further narrow the "digital divide," create a "digital dividend," and digital drives sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the theory of memetics to music offers the prospect of reconciling general Darwinian principles with the style and structure of music. The nature of the units of cultural evolution in music--memes or, more specifically, musemes--can potentially shed light on the evolutionary processes and pressures attendant upon early-hominin musicality. That is, primarily conjunct, narrow-tessitura musemes (those conforming to Ratner's "singing style," and its instrumental assimilations) and primarily disjunct, wide-tessitura musemes (those conforming to Ratner's "brilliant style," and its vocal assimilations) appear to be the outcome of distinct cultural-evolutionary processes. Moreover, musemes in each category arguably acquire their fecundity (perceptual-cognitive salience, and thus transmissibility) by appealing to different music-underpinning brain and body subsystems. Given music's status as an embodied phenomenon, both singing-style and brilliant-style musemes recruit and evoke image schemata, but those in the former category draw primarily upon vocal images of line, direction and continuity; whereas those in the latter category draw primarily upon rhythmic impetus and energy. These two museme-categories may have been molded by distinct biological-evolutionary processes--the evolution of fine vocal control, and that of rhythmic synchronisation, respectively; and they might--via the process of memetic drive--have themselves acted as separate and distinct selection pressures on biological evolution, in order to optimize the environment for their replication. As a case-study of (primarily) singing-style musemes, this article argues that a passage from the love duet "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" from Camille Saint-Saëns' opera Samson et Dalila op. 47 (1877) is the cultural-evolutionary antecedent of the Introduction/Chorus/Outro material of ABBA's song "The Winner Takes It All." Discussion of their melodic and harmonic similarities supports a memetic link between elements of Saint-Saëns' duet and ABBA's song. These relationships of cultural transmission are argued to have been impelled by the fecundity of the shared musemes, which arises from the image-schematic and embodied effects of the implication-realisation structures (in Narmour's sense) that comprise them; and which is underwritten by the coevolution of musemes with vocal- and rhythmic-production mechanisms, and associated perceptual-cognitive schemata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Principal component analysis (PCA) is an important tool for analyzing large collections of variables. It functions both as a pre-processing tool to summarize many variables into components and as a method to reveal structure in data. Different coefficients play a central role in these two uses. One focuses on the weights when the goal is summarization, while one inspects the loadings if the goal is to reveal structure. It is well known that the solutions to the two approaches can be found by singular value decomposition; weights, loadings, and right singular vectors are mathematically equivalent. What is often overlooked, is that they are no longer equivalent in the setting of sparse PCA methods which induce zeros either in the weights or the loadings. The lack of awareness for this difference has led to questionable research practices in sparse PCA. First, in simulation studies data is generated mostly based only on structures with sparse singular vectors or sparse loadings, neglecting the structure with sparse weights. Second, reported results represent local optima as the iterative routines are often initiated with the right singular vectors. In this paper we critically re-assess sparse PCA methods by also including data generating schemes characterized by sparse weights and different initialization strategies. The results show that relying on commonly used data generating models can lead to over-optimistic conclusions. They also highlight the impact of choice between sparse weights versus sparse loadings methods and the initialization strategies. The practical consequences of this choice are illustrated with empirical datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes memes posted by @Ukraine to X, formerly known as Twitter, from the account's inception in 2016 through September 2023 to examine the function and utility of memes as tools of propaganda in global conflict. A multimodal discourse analysis of more than 100 memes was conducted by a small research group to separate the memes into thematic categories in an exploratory fashion. Then, a small subset of the research group conducted a recursive analysis on the images and text in a handful of memes selected purposively to determine what types of ideological appeals were present. Our findings align with observations made in previous studies that internet memes might be used to bolster national unity and might be employed to bolster pleas for sympathy from wealthy, more powerful allies, in this case in the West. The essential propaganda ideals were those of democracy, friendship, and independence on the side of Ukraine while Russia is framed as a dictatorship. A small number of the memes referenced in our paper garnered global media attention. Though we do not make any claims about broad media effects relating to the memes studied here, garnering the attention of major U.S. publication seems clearly to have been a goal of some of these memes. For those who wish to find a key to the playbook for a nation's propaganda strategy, its social media memes are a great place to begin. It is apparent in this study that governments might use memes to cover all their propaganda bases, so to speak. Ukraine's memes appear to serve mainly to reinforce messages of national unity and messages of connection with the West. Though others have studied @Ukraine's tweets, this is believed to be the first to focus exclusively on memes posted to the feed. This study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how wildly varied memes can communicate core concepts of a propaganda strategy, perhaps with the hope that a few will "hit" with desired media outlets, if only to bolster propaganda efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memes are not new concepts, but they have garnered popularity recently. They are a prevalent form of communication on various social media platforms. However, due to a lack of concrete literature (Al Rashdi, 2020), there is still some initial scepticism surrounding them. This paper uses a systematic literature review to create a pool of research papers to be examined to chart the conceptual development of memes, determine how they are used in different fields, and present a vision of memes in the near future. It identifies eleven areas which were studied in parallel to memes, suggesting possible meme applications and development. It adopts the PRISMA 2020 framework to ensure systematic screening and reporting of relevant papers from various databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I collected data from political social media pages to show how memes serve as means to engage in heated "nation-talk." Contending claims are made through memes on the identity of an "Indian" and on the sense of belonging to India. I collected memes over a period of twenty months from two overtly political Facebook pages with hundreds of thousands of followers. After multiple rounds of coding and filtering we arrived at a final sample of memes to be studied in depth. The memes, from opposing political sides, draw inter-textual component elements from the same popular culture, mythology etc. Through the repetition of specific components, slogans etc. these memes exclude certain claims of belonging to India while enforcing others. Key to this repetition are the circulatory dynamics of memes over digital networks, and their performative aspects. India's history emerges as a significant battleground for these memes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orthology information has been used for searching patterns in high-dimensional data, allowing transferring functional information between species. The key concept behind this strategy is that orthologous genes share ancestry to some extent. While reconstructing the history of a single gene is feasible with the existing computational resources, the reconstruction of entire biological systems remains challenging. In this study, we present Bridge , a new algorithm designed to infer the evolutionary root of orthologous genes in large-scale evolutionary analyses. The Bridge algorithm infers the evolutionary root of a given gene based on the distribution of its orthologs in a species tree. The Bridge algorithm is implemented in R and can be used either to assess genetic changes across the evolutionary history of orthologous groups or to infer the onset of specific traits in a biological system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rebecca Black was thirteen when her music video "Friday" went massively viral after it was uploaded to YouTube in 2011. Black re-entered the news cycle in 2020 after coming out as queer, and shortly thereafter releasing a remix of "Friday" for the video's tenth anniversary. Through references to the online spaces and memetic cultures where Black was trolled and harassed, "Friday (Remix)" repackages trauma in a bright, nostalgic bundle. Through an analysis of the music video and media coverage around Black's coming out, this article considers how "Friday (Remix)" positions Black's rebrand as one in which, as a payoff for the resiliency she has exhibited throughout her career, the singer possesses newfound agency to express herself in an authentic way. Simultaneously, Black's play with her virality in "Friday (Remix)" demonstrates an increasing need in contemporary celebrity culture to engage in constant self-commodification and self-"memeification" to achieve this sense of authenticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Due to restrictive laws and limited service provision, globally the majority of induced abortions are unsafe and remain largely undocumented, despite their negative impact on women's health. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to test Respondent-Driven Sampling - used previously in HIV research - for abortion, and to measure abortion safety characteristics in the small town of Kaya and surrounding villages (Burkina Faso) and in the slums of Nairobi (Kenya). METHODS: A preliminary qualitative study confirmed that women disclose to network members when seeking an abortion. Using RDS, we recruited 481 abortion-seekers from 12 seeds in Kaya (in max. 10 waves) and 551 abortion-seekers from 8 seeds in Nairobi (in max. 5 waves) in 2021. These respondents reported 487 (Kaya) and 595 (Nairobi) abortions in the previous 3 years. RESULTS: Standard diagnostics showed that the safety characteristics of the abortions of the recruited women were independent of those of the seeds, but sample-wide convergence was reached at relatively high sample sizes (around 300 in Kaya and 400 in Nairobi). More advanced checks indicated convergence (or tendency towards convergence) across seeds, except for one indicator in one site. In Kaya, most women used plant-based methods (50%) and unidentified pills (Medical Abortion (MA) in appearance) (33%). In Nairobi, women used unidentified pills (likely MA) (38% of abortions), followed by plant-based (21%) and known harmful methods (19%); pharmacists were frequent providers (45%). In Kaya, abortions occurred in the first trimester (98%), but less so in Nairobi (70%). The level of reported likely infected complications was similar across sites (6.2% in Kaya versus 9.6% in Nairobi). CONCLUSIONS: While the RDS misses non-networked abortion-seekers (an arguably small share of abortion-seekers in the sites), the different available quality checks yielded positive signals as to the possibility of using RDS to obtain data representative of networked abortions. The data revealed contrasting safety characteristics and abortion-seeker profiles across sites. CONTRIBUTION: RDS is cheap, yields large and diverse samples of abortion-seekers, and is equipped with built-in quality tests: it is a promising avenue for collecting data on abortions in restrictive settings where abortion-seekers are highly networked, although a number of limitations remain and further development is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socrates : Of the many excellences which I perceive in the order of our state, there is none which upon reflection pleases me better than the rule about Internet. Glaucon : To what do you refer ? Socrates : To our refusal to admit the memetic kind of media, for it certainly ought not to be received ... Speaking in confidence, for you will not denounce me to Facebook and the rest of the memetic networks, all memes are made to contaminate the thinking (dianoia) of the hearers, unless as an antidote (pharmakon) they possess the knowledge of the true nature of the originals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical paper explores the significance of Internet memes to the field of information research. Adopting a constructivist framework, it conceptualizes memes as documents that undermine popular assumptions about people's engagements with information. In particular, it argues that Internet memes are conceptual tools through which people can negotiate different representations of reality and the logics that underlie them. Through a close reading of several memetic examples, I propose that memes are a means through which Internet users document and test their values against those of others, thereby allowing them to explore the different courses of action associated with situations they encounter. Memetic communication is thus presented as an important new information literacy practice that has critical implications for the following research areas: education, freedom of expression, ethics and policy, and the preservation of cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines 'huns' – specifically celebrity huns in the public spotlight – as memetic 'figures' who are defined by their loud, tongue-in-cheek and humorous display of British femininities coded as working class. Unlike other female figures routinely mocked and laughed at in contemporary popular culture (such as the 'chav[ette]' in Britain and 'Karens' in America), huns have been celebrated online in a seemingly more progressive and supposedly politically aware sociocultural context. However, this article argues that laughter aimed at the celebrity hun, though deemed inclusive by her fans, is ultimately ambivalent, polysemic and multifarious. Transformations online have led to the discursive creation of the hun through her 'memeability'. Therefore, I will analyse this new classed and gendered figure via social media. Using the Instagram account 'loveofhuns' as a case study, I examine three memes from this page to showcase how huns are represented in complex and competing ways. Overall, this article questions whether the humour in memes uplifts huns or reinforces stereotypes of this typically derided image of (classed) femininity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper names habitually express the cultural and social characteristics of a group; therefore, they express collective confirmation of a sense of self-image, affiliations, and emotional anchors. The goal of this investigation is to help deepen our understanding of the onomastic identity revealed in the collective discourse and manifested through the memetic features of onyms. The research presented here consolidated onomastics, psycholinguistics, memetics, and cultural studies. The focus of this investigation is on the changing collective onomastic identity in the Ukrainian society. The data for this research was gathered from two free associative experiments carried out with Ukrainian respondents in 2006 and 2021. In both years, respondents were presented with identical lists of stimuli. Both corpora reveal proper names with memetic features that were preserved in collective memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web transport system (WTS) is commonly used in the production and handling of web materials such as paper, fabric, corrugated iron, steel, and printing operations. These materials are easily damaged if the process performance is poor. Therefore, high technology in mechanics and precise control techniques are required in this system. In addition, because of parameter variation, strong nonlinearity, and many external noises, there are many challenges in controlling this process. This paper proposes a backstepping technique-based algorithm to control the web’s tension and velocity. To solve the parameter variation, a radial basis function (RBF) neural network-based adaptation algorithm is developed to approximate the varied components in the control algorithm. The system stability is guaranteed using the Lyapunov stability theorem. Simulations in MATLAB/Simulink have been done and the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is verified. Tension and velocity tracking can be obtained with parameter variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memes have now become a common medium of communication. There are multiple ways memes are considered in academia. Semiotics offers information on how the media and modes that memes consist of can be interpreted and how the characteristics of semiotic resources apply to memes. Drawing from a pool of memes collected during the Kerala assembly election in 2021, this research argues that certain memes need to be categorised as multimodal ensemble. Different modalities play different roles meaning construction, and they also collaborate with each other for a uniform purpose. By comparing existing memes defined in academia and multiple methodologies to analyse memes, the paper puts forth a framework to analyse memes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to develop a new cost effectiveness analysis framework in the context of safety instrumented systems (SIS) design and operation. The primary objective is to achieve an optimal equilibrium among safety integrity, operational integrity, and lifecycle cost of SIS. It is essential to note that these objectives may often be in conflict; for instance, enhancing safety integrity could potentially diminish operational integrity and escalate costs. Achieving this balance is crucial to ensure that the risk level being addressed aligns precisely with the desired objectives while minimizing any adverse effects. The novelty of this paper lies in the refined formulation of a multi-objective optimization problem and the application of a recently developed swarm-based MantaRay Foraging Optimization (MRFO) algorithm. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated through a typical SIS design challenge, which entails satisfying specific measures in terms of Safety Integrity Level (SIL), spurious trip activation rate, and lifecycle cost. These measures depend on variables such as the number and voting scheme of components, their types, and the intervals for potential proof tests. For validation and comparison, the problem was initially tackled using a conventional approach based on genetic algorithms. Subsequently, the MRFO algorithm was employed, yielding highly satisfactory results and confirming its proficiency in resolving real-world SIS optimization challenges. Notably, the MRFO algorithm produced a greater number of solutions compared to the genetic algorithm approach. This increase in solution options is advantageous, offering decision-makers a broader array of choices for optimal system design. This study contributes significantly to the field of SIS design, presenting an innovative, algorithm-driven approach to balancing safety, operational integrity, and cost in system development. It also contributes to understanding the life cycle costs of security barriers in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]