The selfie production model: Rethinking selfie taking, editing, and posting practices

With the rise of digital technologies, selfies are a contemporary and popular form of digitally produced self-expression for Saudi women. Informed by Goffman’s (1959) self-presentation theory and Hall’s (1966) proxemics theory, this study explores the process of producing and posting selfies on Instagram and Snapchat platforms, and examines how these practices are shaped by cultural norms and platform affordances. Methodologically, an ethnographic approach was employed to observe selfie practices involving: focus groups, face-to-face interviews, online observation, and photo-elicitation interviews. The sample consisted of 35 Saudi women between 18-57 years old. The results were used to develop a framework for understanding selfie production consisting of six processes: the motivation process, pre-photo process, platform affordances process, audience customization process, assessment of cultural norms process, and the process of reposting selfie. Also, the study identified a number of strategies practiced by Saudi women to present a more desirable self, including: digitally editing the selfie using beautifying filters, arranging the background, retaking the selfie, and adding digital makeup. Cultural norms were found to heavily influence selfie practices, as selfie takers carefully select particular audiences with whom to share the selfie, while blocking others from viewing the selfie using “virtual walls” depending on veiling practices, habitual proximity, and the appropriateness of the content. The model and the identified strategies make an important empirical contribution that provides a new way of thinking about selfie practices outside Euromerica.

FEATURES OF REACTIVE POWER COMPENSATION IN ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS AND SYSTEMS

The article considers the conceptual issues of the specifics of optimizing the modes of electric power systems by compensating for reactive power, taking into account the voltage level. Taking into account the level of electric power quality, load change modes, specific cost of the control means and functional tasks, it is determined the algorithmic requirements for the optimization process: according to the criterion of the minimum loss of electric power in the networks and the minimum damage of specific consumers (consumer groups), respectively. The most efficient hardware based on static devices of the FACTS process platform is proposed.

The Culzean Field, Block 22/25a, UK North Sea

The Culzean Field is situated 240 km east of Aberdeen in Block 22/25a. The field was discovered in 2008 by well 22/25a-9Z targeting a tilted fault block, encountering lean-gas condensate in the fluvial Triassic Skagerrak (Joanne Sandstone Member) and the Jurassic Pentland formations. The field is high-pressure–high-temperature (HPHT) with initial conditions of 936 Bar (13 575 psi), 176°C (348°F) and charged with a lean-gas condensate. Development of the field was sanctioned in 2015 and is the latest UK HPHT field to be developed with start-up in mid-2019. The field development plan comprises production from six development wells drilled from a wellhead platform with bridge connections to a central process platform with accommodation on an additional bridge-linked utilities and living quarters platform. Gas is exported to shore via the Central Area Transmission System pipeline and produced condensate is exported via the floating storage and offloading vessel ‘Ailsa’. Production is expected to reach a plateau production rate in the order of 100 000 boepd with an overall recovery of up to 300 MMboe.