The construction of an online community through advertisements:the case of the Tiny Meat Gang podcast

Abstract. Community construction in an online setting has been researched to some extent before, using discourse analysis, and this thesis takes inspiration from the previous studies conducted in this field. Advertising has developed in modern era, with advertisers moving increasingly to social media and using different ways to advertise, and podcasting has offered a good medium for marketing. This thesis provides a new research medium, as the advertisements present in social media have not previously been examined as a way to construct a community, connecting advertising to community construction. This thesis examines how the in-podcast advertisements of the Tiny Meat Gang (TMG) podcast construct the community of its listeners. This is done using discourse analysis, utilizing Pietikäinen and Mäntynen (2019) as the guideline for the discourse analytic examination of the data. The concepts of authenticity and sense of community (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) are applied in the analysis. Different studies on constructing communities as well as advertising and authenticity in media are also consulted in the process. The data for the thesis was collected from episodes 161–172 of the freely available episodes of the TMG podcast, constructing a corpus of 38 advertisements of 19 different brands. In addition to this every episode had a sign-on and sign-off advertisement, promoting the podcast’s Patreon account. The advertisements were transcribed, focusing on the level of word choices. The results indicate that the advertisements in this podcast construct the community, some of this in purpose but otherwise it might be accidental. The data shows certain reoccurring elements in the advertisements, in terms of community construction. Although this thesis has certain limitations, it offers a lot of interesting findings. This field of researching community construction in connection to modern advertising offers a great deal of research possibilities for the future.Tiivistelmä. Yhteisön luomista internetissä on tutkittu jonkin verran, käyttäen diskurssianalyysia, ja tämä tutkielma ammentaakin inspiraatiota aihepiirin aiemmista tutkimuksista. Mainostaminen on myös kehittynyt modernina aikana ja siirtynyt enenevässä määrin sosiaaliseen mediaan ja käyttäen erilaisia mainostamisen tapoja. Podcastit ovat antaneet mainostajille hyvän vaihtoehdon mainostaa tuotteitaan. Tämä tutkielma tarjoaa uuden tutkimussuunnan, sillä mainoksia ei ole ennen tutkittu yhteisön rakentamisen keinoina. Tämä tutkielma tutkii sitä, miten Tiny Meat Gang (TMG) -podcast rakentaa podcastin kuuntelijoiden yhteisöä siinä esiintyvissä mainoksissa. Tämä tehdään diskurssianalyysin avulla, käyttäen Pietikäistä ja Mäntystä (2019) ohjenuorana analyysissä. Autenttisuuden sekä yhteisöllisyyden tunteen (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) määritelmiä hyödynnetään myös analyysia tehdessä. Erilaisia tutkimuksia yhteisön rakentamisesta käytetään myös hyödyksi analyysissä, kuten myös tutkimuksia markkinoinnista, sekä autenttisuudesta mediassa. Tutkielman aineisto sisältää TMG-podcastin ilmaisten jaksojen 161–172 mainokset, joita on yhteensä 38. Näiden mainosten lisäksi jokaisessa tutkitussa jaksossa oli podcastin oman Patreon-tilin mainos jakson alussa sekä lopussa. Mainokset litteroitiin, keskittyen tutkielman kannalta tärkeisiin elementteihin, kuten sanavalintoihin. Tulokset osoittavat sen, että podcastissa esiintyvät mainokset rakentavat yhteisöä, osa tarkoituksella, mutta osa saattaa tehdä tätä tahattomasti. Aineistosta paljastuu joitain toistuvia elementtejä, jotka rakentavat yhteisöä. Vaikka tällä tutkielmalla on tiettyjä rajoitteita, voidaan tuloksia pitää mielenkiintoisina. Yhteisön rakentuminen ja sen liittyminen moderniin mainostamiseen tarjoaa paljon mahdollisuuksia tutkimuksille tulevaisuudessa

Genetic algorithm for finding a good first integer solution for MILP

The paper proposes a genetic algorithm based method for nding a good rst integer solu- tion to mixed integer programming problems (MILP). The objective value corresponding to this solution can be used to e ciently prune the search tree in branch and bound type algorithms for MILP. Some preliminary computational results are also presented which support the view that this approach deserves some attention

A multiobjective dynamic nonlinear robot assignment problem

Robots will be used under rapidly changing and highly dangerous circumstances such as rescue operations in a radioactive environment or a fire as well as military operations. The robots are sent to several targets in order to carry out various tasks. The robots we are considering here are able to send and receive messages to and from each other as well as solve nonlinear assignment problems. When the robot salvo is en-route to their targets several events may happen. A number of co- operative robots may get jammed as a consequence of disturbances. Some robots may already have reached their targets. Some robots may not be able to reach all targets. The system being investigated enables the surviving robots to work together in real time and change their pre-set tasks if necessary in order to maximize their effectiveness. In this paper we present a method which solves the reallocation problem using a piecewise linear network algorithm. Experimental results up to 493 targets and 500 robots show that the reallocation of the robots can be done in real time

Influence of van der Waals forces on the adsorption structure of benzene on silicon studied using density functional theory

Two different adsorption configurations of benzene on the Si(001)-(2 x 1) surface, the tight-bridge and butterfly structures, were studied using density functional theory. Several exchange and correlation functionals were used, including the recently developed van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF), which accounts for the effect of van der Waals forces. In contrast to the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE), revPBE, and other generalized-gradient approximation functionals, the vdW-DF finds that, for most coverages, the adsorption energy of the butterfly structure is greater than that of the tight-bridge structure

Optical application and measurement of torque on microparticles of isotropic nonabsorbing material

We show how it is possible to controllably rotate or align microscopic particles of isotropic nonabsorbing material in a TEM00 Gaussian beam trap, with simultaneous measurement of the applied torque using purely optical means. This is a simple and general method of rotation, requiring only that the particle is elongated along one direction. Thus, this method can be used to rotate or align a wide range of naturally occurring particles. The ability to measure the applied torque enables the use of this method as a quantitative tool--the rotational equivalent of optical tweezers based force measurement. As well as being of particular value for the rotation of biological specimens, this method is also suitable for the development of optically-driven micromachines.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Non-invasive home telemonitoring in patients with decompensated heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis

cited By 0We planned this systematic review and meta-analysis to study an estimate of the effect of non-invasive home telemonitoring (TM) in the treatment of patients with recently decompensated heart failure (HF). A systematic literature search was conducted in the Medline, Cinahl, and Scopus databases to look for randomized controlled studies comparing TM with standard care in the treatment of patients with recently decompensated HF. The main outcomes of interest were all-cause hospitalizations and mortality. Eleven original articles met our eligibility criteria. The pooled estimate of the relative risk of all-cause hospitalization in the TM group compared with standard care was 0.95 (95% CI 0.84-1.08, P = 0.43) and the relative risk of all-cause death was 0.83 (95% CI 0.63-1.09, P = 0.17). There was significant clinical heterogeneity among primary studies. HF medication could be directly altered in three study interventions, and two of these had a statistically significant effect on all-cause hospitalizations. The pooled effect estimate of TM interventions on all-cause hospitalizations and all-cause death in patients with recently decompensated heart failure was neutral.Peer reviewe

Density-functional theory of positronium and electron bubbles in helium fluids

The density-functional method is applied to excess electrons and positronium atoms in helium fluids. The self-trapping is investigated in a fully self-consistent fashion, and formulas are given for the particle energy and Ps pick-off annihilation rate in quasifree as well as localized states. The numerical results compare well with experimental data. However, the need for a more sophisticated treatment of threshold effects near the onset of bubble formation is indicated.Peer reviewe

Fracture of three-dimensional fuse networks with quenched disorder

We study a fracture on a quasistatic time scale in a three-dimensional (3D) fuse network model with “strong” and “weak” disorder. These two cases differ noticeably in the development of the fracture. For strong disorder the damage scaling is very close to volumelike [number of broken bonds Nb∼L3/(lnL)0.3] unlike for weak disorder [Nb∼L2.4/(lnL)0.3]. With strong disorder global load sharing is only approximately valid. The size distribution of “avalanches” of broken fuses in the failure follows roughly a power-law scaling. The power-law exponent τ has a value close to 2, close to but differing from the exponent −5/2 expected of global load sharing. For weak disorder τ is about 1.5 which means that the decay of the size distribution is much slower than expected. These exponent values that characterize the development of damage prior to catastrophic failure are comparable to experimental ones. For the final fracture surfaces we observe a roughness exponent ζ≈0.4 for weak disorder. For strong disorder, severe finite size effects are seen, but the exponent seems to converge to the same value as for weak disorder, which is close to the one for the 3D random bond Ising domain wall universality class.Peer reviewe

Shot-noise-driven escape in hysteretic Josephson junctions

We have measured the influence of shot noise on hysteretic Josephson junctions initially in macroscopic quantum tunnelling (MQT) regime. Escape threshold current into the resistive state decreases monotonically with increasing average current through the scattering conductor, which is another tunnel junction. Escape is predominantly determined by excitation due to the wide-band shot noise. This process is equivalent to thermal activation (TA) over the barrier at temperatures up to about four times above the critical temperature of the superconductor. The presented TA model is in excellent agreement with the experimental results

Pregnancy incidence and outcome before and after cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: a retrospective cohort study

We performed a retrospective cohort study of 3530 women treated for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland, to investigate whether CIN treatment itself affects pregnancy incidence and outcome. We estimated the incidence of live births, miscarriages, extrauterine pregnancies, molar pregnancies, and termination of pregnancies (TOPs) before and after CIN treatment using nationwide registers. Women were followed up until death, emigration, sterilization, or the end of 2004. The comparison of incidence of pregnancy outcomes before and after the treatment was estimated by calculating hazard ratios (HRs) with conditional Poisson regression. After 76,162 woman-years of follow-up, the incidence of any pregnancy remained constant over CIN-treatment, HR 1.02 and 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.97-1.08, but the incidence of the first pregnancy was significantly elevated after treatment, HR 1.13, and 95% CI 1.03-1.23. The incidence of live births was significantly elevated after treatment, HR 1.08 and 95% CI 1.01-1.15. Incidence of miscarriages, TOPs, extrauterine pregnancies, and molar pregnancies was not elevated. TOPs was significantly increased in the first pregnancy, HR 1.40, 95% CI 1.15-1.72 and after treatment by the loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP), HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.15-1.60. CIN treatment did not reduce pregnancy incidence and women had more live births after than before CIN treatment. TOPs was more common in the first pregnancy or after treatment by LEEP. We encourage research on the psychosocial consequences of CIN treatment also in other countries and settings