Ways of Seeing Advertising: Law and the Making of Visual Commercial Culture

This article examines the role of law in shaping visual commercial culture by telling the story of the hoarding—the outdoor advertising surface for posters—in the formative decades of mass advertising in Britain, from roughly 1840 to 1914. The hoarding emerged in this period as a distinct property and a focal point of contestation over ways of seeing. Its meaning as a visual environment hinged on questions, which are still resonant today, about the interaction between economic and aesthetic categories: advertising and art, capital and beauty, commerce and culture. Historical actors—among them the organized billposting trade, the National Society for Checking the Abuses of Public Advertising, a civil society organization that took up the cause of protecting public spaces from advertising, governmental and local lawmakers, and citizens—enlisted private and public legal means to respond to these questions. This analysis draws on an expansive interdisciplinary archive to trace them. As it shows, legal means were engaged in cultural demarcation or what Thomas Gieryn has aptly termed boundary work. In establishing cultural boundaries, law defined the terms on which advertising became an integral element of daily visual experience, at once omnipresent and derided. The legal history of advertising thus offers deep insights for visual legal studies.

From Family Albums to Global Search Engines: Translating Family Photographs for the Digital Age

<p>This thesis examines the ways digital photo-sharing platforms adopt, use and challenge the discourse of the material family album as a way of demonstrating the uses for new media within the private sphere. It analyses the digital photo-sharing platforms of Picasa and Shutterfly, platforms which often take contrasting approaches to negotiating the relationship between material and digital cultures. By examining these platforms in terms of the way they reference and use the discourse of the material family album, the ways they allow content to be used and accessed, and their relationship to commercial culture, this thesis explores how these platforms use the discourse to transform the way the family and the family album interact with one another, and with geography, time and commercial culture. It argues that the discourse of the material family album is translated by digital photo-sharing platforms in order to ensure the family participates in the digital sphere, drawing more of human communication into the online space where it can be mediatized, observed, and commodified. The thesis begins by defining the discourse of the material family album, drawing on the ways the family album is commonly described in academic literature. It identifies a common discourse in discussions of the family album which suggests a particular way of thinking about the album’s functions and practices. The second chapter explores the ways digital photo-sharing platforms adopt and translate this discourse, and give these social practices a visual, media form. These platforms draw the family into the digital sphere by abstracting these practices from the material world and rendering them visible in their interfaces. As a result of this, however, the practices become subject to an increasing degree of standardisation and control from outside the family. The third chapter addresses the issue of access to family albums in both the material and digital contexts. It argues that the benefits of using digital interfaces lie in how they enable a reinterpretation of the significance of geography and time to both the album and its viewers. The characteristics of new media therefore challenge how access to the album was granted and refused in the material world. The final chapter explores the relationship between the family album and commerce, and argues that the commodification of the family album and the practices involved in creating them are perhaps the strongest driving factor in the desire to connect the family with new media and the internet. When the discourse of the material family album is realised within digital photo-sharing platforms, the relationship between family albums and commodities is changed, meaning digital photo-sharing within the commercially owned platforms of Picasa and Shutterfly involve families and their leisure activities more and more strongly in the world of commerce.</p>

From Family Albums to Global Search Engines: Translating Family Photographs for the Digital Age

<p>This thesis examines the ways digital photo-sharing platforms adopt, use and challenge the discourse of the material family album as a way of demonstrating the uses for new media within the private sphere. It analyses the digital photo-sharing platforms of Picasa and Shutterfly, platforms which often take contrasting approaches to negotiating the relationship between material and digital cultures. By examining these platforms in terms of the way they reference and use the discourse of the material family album, the ways they allow content to be used and accessed, and their relationship to commercial culture, this thesis explores how these platforms use the discourse to transform the way the family and the family album interact with one another, and with geography, time and commercial culture. It argues that the discourse of the material family album is translated by digital photo-sharing platforms in order to ensure the family participates in the digital sphere, drawing more of human communication into the online space where it can be mediatized, observed, and commodified. The thesis begins by defining the discourse of the material family album, drawing on the ways the family album is commonly described in academic literature. It identifies a common discourse in discussions of the family album which suggests a particular way of thinking about the album’s functions and practices. The second chapter explores the ways digital photo-sharing platforms adopt and translate this discourse, and give these social practices a visual, media form. These platforms draw the family into the digital sphere by abstracting these practices from the material world and rendering them visible in their interfaces. As a result of this, however, the practices become subject to an increasing degree of standardisation and control from outside the family. The third chapter addresses the issue of access to family albums in both the material and digital contexts. It argues that the benefits of using digital interfaces lie in how they enable a reinterpretation of the significance of geography and time to both the album and its viewers. The characteristics of new media therefore challenge how access to the album was granted and refused in the material world. The final chapter explores the relationship between the family album and commerce, and argues that the commodification of the family album and the practices involved in creating them are perhaps the strongest driving factor in the desire to connect the family with new media and the internet. When the discourse of the material family album is realised within digital photo-sharing platforms, the relationship between family albums and commodities is changed, meaning digital photo-sharing within the commercially owned platforms of Picasa and Shutterfly involve families and their leisure activities more and more strongly in the world of commerce.</p>

Evaluation of a Commercial Culture-free Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus-2 and Comparison with an Anti-RBD ELISA Assay

Background SARS-CoV-2 surrogate neutralization assays that obviate the need for viral culture offer substantial advantages regarding throughput and cost. The cPass SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit (Genscript) is the first such commercially available assay, detecting antibodies that block RBD/ACE-2 interaction. We aimed to evaluate cPass to inform its use and assess its added value compared to anti-RBD ELISA assays. Methods Serum reference panels comprising 205 specimens were used to compare cPass to plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT) and a pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization (PLV) assay for detection of neutralizing antibodies. We assessed the correlation of cPass with an ELISA detecting anti-RBD IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies at a single timepoint and across intervals from onset of symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results Compared to PRNT-50, cPass sensitivity ranged from 77% - 100% and specificity was 95% - 100%. Sensitivity was also high compared to the pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization assay (93% [95%CI 85-97]), but specificity was lower (58% [95%CI 48-67]). Highest agreement between cPass and ELISA was for anti-RBD IgG (r=0.823). Against the pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization assay, anti-RBD IgG sensitivity (99% [95%CI 94-100]) was very similar to that of cPass, but overall specificity was lower (37% [95%CI 28-47]). Against PRNT-50, results of cPass and anti-RBD IgG were nearly identical. Conclusions The added value of cPass compared to an IgG anti-RBD ELISA was modest.

Uniforms and Commercial Culture: Constructing a Vision of Warfare in Pre-Great War Britain

Uniforms carry cultural meaning shaped by their interaction with military realities. They can communicate tradition but also anticipate change. Prior to the Great War, British Army uniforms had developed from the familiar red tunic to khaki, but the manner of their representation in the mass culture confirmed a continuity and correctness of the British way of war that ran against the emerging industrialization of warfare. Wearing familiar uniforms linked to the past and concurrently fighting what seemed like anachronistic ‘small wars’ in empire as reported in the press, what awaited the volunteers of 1914–15 could not have been anticipated by those consumers of the commercial culture. This article uses a variety of sources, from the illustrated adult and juvenile press, paintings, and toys, to reveal the link between uniforms and the representation of warfare in the fifty years prior to the Great War. In that representation we see not just the glorification of war that cultural historians attach to gendered, imperialist, or nationalist meanings. This article argues that the role of uniforms in the representation of warfare was a means by which to make it knowable and worthwhile for the consumer public. But by representing past and contemporary uniforms quite accurately, the writers and artists imposed a sense of military continuity at a time when war was changing.

Evaluation of a Commercial Culture-free Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus-2 and Comparison with an Anti-RBD ELISA Assay

ABSTRACTBackgroundSARS-CoV-2 surrogate neutralization assays that obviate the need for viral culture offer substantial advantages regarding throughput and cost. The cPass SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit (Genscript) is the first such commercially available assay, detecting antibodies that block RBD/ACE-2 interaction. We aimed to evaluate cPass to inform its use and assess its added value compared to anti-RBD ELISA assays.MethodsSerum reference panels comprising 205 specimens were used to compare cPass to plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT) and a pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization (PLV) assay for detection of neutralizing antibodies. We assessed the correlation of cPass with an ELISA detecting anti-RBD IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies at a single timepoint and across intervals from onset of symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection.ResultsCompared to PRNT-50, cPass sensitivity ranged from 77% - 100% and specificity was 95% - 100%. Sensitivity was also high compared to the pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization assay (93% [95%CI 85-97]), but specificity was lower (58% [95%CI 48-67]). Highest agreement between cPass and ELISA was for anti-RBD IgG (r=0.823). Against the pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization assay, anti-RBD IgG sensitivity (99% [95%CI 94-100]) was very similar to that of cPass, but overall specificity was lower (37% [95%CI 28-47]). Against PRNT-50, results of cPass and anti-RBD IgG were nearly identical.ConclusionsThe added value of cPass compared to an IgG anti-RBD ELISA was modest.

treasure of Środa as a source for research on medieval symbols and migrations

Analysis of the symbolism of engagements, wedding ceremonies and wedding celebrations does not allow us to strictly define the symbols associated with these occasions. It is also difficult to determine the variation in symbolism in time and space. Nevertheless, a list of certain symbols has been established: the hand-in-hand gesture, the ring and the garland. This last seems to be particularly important during the wedding feast. The crown and the garland are, first of all, specifically bridal headgear; the crown is also worn during the wedding ceremony but is not a symbol of the ceremony. In the Kingdom of Poland, and perhaps also in other areas, if a coronation and wedding took place simultaneously, a garland was marked on the bride’s crown. Meanwhile, an eagle on the crown or on other dress accessories probably only elevated the status of these artefacts and cannot be heraldic. Archaeological discoveries also allow to state that diadems with eagles holding rings in their beaks – like a specimen from Środa Śląska – were also made of tin-lead alloys.Despite the incredible abundance of silver treasures in the early Middle Ages on Polish lands, which largely resulted from the migration of Scandinavians, it is hard to talk about the emergence of new financial market instruments at that time, although some effects are visible in the commercial culture. Only in the late Middle Ages, thanks to the German, Teutonic and Hansa colonisation, and the migration of Jews, credit appears, the material effect of which is bond hoards, and in the 15th century, commercial paper – a modern financial market tool. All this evidences that medieval hoards are also a source of research on migration.

Comparison of photoautotrophic and mixotrophic cultivation of microalgae Messastrum gracile (Chlorophyceae) in alternative culture media

Growth and biological conditions of Messastrum gracile were evaluated to compare the effect of photoautotrophic and mixotrophic cultivation on the increase of biomass production and chemical conditions cultured in macrophyte and commercial culture media. The growth rate (k) of M. gracile was different in the culture media, higher in mixotrophic cultivation for Lemna minor culture medium, whilst to Eichhornia crassipes and NPK culture media were higher in photoautotrophic cultivation. Mean lipid contents in photoautotrophic cultivation were 8.2% biomass dry weight, whereas they reached 19% biomass dry weight in mixotrophic cultivation. Protein contents were below 48% biomass dry weight in photoautotrophic cultivation and 30% biomass dry weight in mixotrophic cultivation. Messastrum gracile cultured in macrophyte culture media (E. crassipes and L. minor) and NPK culture medium provided satisfactory results with regard to lipid and protein contents in mixotrophic and photoautotrophic cultivations, respectively. Lipid and protein contents in alternative media were higher or similar to the CHU12 commercial culture medium.

Cosmopolitan Desire and Profitable Performance in The Dutch Courtesan

The Dutch Courtesan reflects on the uses of seduction and desire in commercial culture. The eponymous courtesan Franceschina circulates among foreign clientele; the native conman Cocledemoy accumulates wealth through a range of foreign disguises. Their cosmopolitan appeal to diverse consumers illustrates the dangers of excessive desire linked to an intensifying fashion for foreign commodities in the period. The commodity that is the play itself also capitalizes on similar fascinations of London audiences. Franceschina and Cocledemoy’s explicitly theatrical performances display and satirize how salesmanship – in the form of seduction and trickery – preys on consumer interests to fuel commerce in the global marketplace.

Commercialism and the quotidian

This article examines Andy Warhol Eating a Hamburger in relation to the aesthetics of Andy Warhol's own filmmaking and contemporaneous American television commercials. I point to how the film's design ‐ including the single long take, ambient sound, and Warhol's performance ‐ draw upon and undermine American commercial culture.