Metamodern Gaming: Literary Analysis of The Last of Us

Among numerous ways to describe the culture and literature after postmodernism metamodern is becoming more and more popular. Its main features – oscillation, affect, desire for structure and (re)construction etc. – appear in many products of contemporary culture. This article reflects the endeavour to apply metamodernism and its trends to the literary analysis of cybertext. Crucial trends of metamodernism are briefly described and implemented in the analysis of a video game. The features of cybertext that influence the analysis are considered. All these instruments were used to show the metamodern nature of the game by Naughty Dog, The Last of Us (2013). The article attempts to analyze a cybertext through the methods of literary analysis and reveal metamodern ideas in The Last of Us using main metamodern categories as a tool for text study.         &nbsp

Bleeding Edge of Postmodernism: Metamodern Writing in the Novel by Thomas Pynchon

Many different models of co ntemporary novel’s description arose from the search for methods and approaches of post-postmodern texts analysis. One of them is the concept of metamodernism, proposed by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker and based on the culture and philosophy changes at the turn of this century. This article argues that the ideas of metamodernism and its main trends can be successfully used for the study of contemporary literature. The basic trends of metamodernism were determined and observed through the prism of literature studies. They were implemented in the analysis of Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel, Bleeding Edge (2013). Despite Pynchon being usually considered as postmodern writer, the use of metamodern categories for describing his narrative strategies confirms the idea of the novel’s post-postmodern orientation. The article makes an endeavor to use metamodern categories as a tool for post-postmodern text studies, in order to analyze and interpret Bleeding Edge through those categories. &nbsp

Again and Always: Intertextuality outside of Postmodernism

Intertextuality became one of the most popular and important terms in the culture of the 20th century. It is usually considered in connection with postmodernism and its ironic nature. Contemporary writing is still intertextual, though far from being postmodern. Moreover, even some medieval texts appear to operate intertextual tools systematically. The article presents examples of intertextuality in different novels from both the pre-postmodern and post-postmodern worlds, and searches for a possible explanation for this phenomenon through methodical solutions that would improve our understanding of intertextuality in the frame of literature analysis. It shows that different features of intertextual writing should be carefully considered in the frame of post-postmodern literature and questions the accuracy of our approach to discussing cultural process

3-D pit: Linear pottery culture long pit reconstructed through point-cloud analysis

Newly applied method of 3D-point cloud analysis performed in Kamyane-Zavallia, Ukraine, the easternmost LBK site introduced the opportunity to define the walking surface of Neolithic settlement and distinguish stratigraphic units in details using the geoinformational systems and geospatial database as a tools for the object analysis. This raises a number of questions concerning the previous interpretations of Linear Pottery Culture sites in Ukraine and the required accuracy of their archaeological excavation. Moreover, the analysis of stratigraphic units inside the long pit from Kamyane Zavallia had shown the complex and heterogenic process of its refilling

РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ ПАМЯТНИКА ЯМНОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ ГЕНЕРАЛКА 2 НА ОСТРОВЕ ХОРТИЦА НА ДНЕПРЕ

n/

Chipped Stone Assemblage of the Layer B of the Kamyana Mohyla 1 Site (South-Eastern Ukraine) and the Issue of Kukrek in the North Meotic Steppe Region

The layer B is one of the lower layers of the long stratigraphic sequence of the Kamyana Mohyla 1 site. The layer B received eight new AMS radiocarbon dates that clarified its chronology: 7950–7300 calibrated years BC. They are in a reasonable correspondence with the dates for lower and upper layers. The lithic assemblage belongs to Kukrek cultural aspect. It is characterized by pencil-like conical cores, Kukrek inserts, Kukrek burins and Dęby burins, nongeometric microliths (oblique points). The assemblage finds close parallels in the sites of Kukrek, Ihren VIII, Melnychna Krucha SU4 and Domchi-Kaia. They can be united into Kukrek sensu stricto cultural unit. The overlying layer C yielded somewhat different complex that finds parallels in the materials of the so-called “Kukrek cultural tradition.” Due to clear stratigraphic position of these units in the Kamyana Mohyla 1 sequence, we are able to differentiate Kukrek sensu stricto and “Kukrek cultural tradition” and suggest their respective chronological positions

Sustaining rare marine microorganisms: macroorganisms as repositories and dispersal agents of microbial diversity

Recent analyses revealed that most of the biodiversity observed in marine microbial communities is represented by organisms with low abundance but, nonetheless essential for ecosystem dynamics and processes across both temporal and spatial scales. Surprisingly, few studies have considered the effect of macroorganism-microbe interactions on the ecology and distribution dynamics of rare microbial taxa. In this review, we synthesize several lines of evidence that these relationships cannot be neglected any longer. First, we provide empirical support that the microbiota of macroorganisms represents a significant part of marine bacterial biodiversity and that host-microbe interactions benefit to certain microbial populations which are part of the rare biosphere (i.e., opportunistic copiotrophic organisms). Second, we reveal the major role that macroorganisms may have on the dispersal and the geographic distribution of microbes. Third, we introduce an innovative and integrated view of the interactions between microbes and macroorganisms, namely sustaining the rares, which suggests that macroorganisms favor the maintenance of marine microbial diversity and are involved in the regulation of its richness and dynamics. Finally, we show how this hypothesis complements existing theories in microbial ecology and offers new perspectives about the importance of macroorganisms for the microbial biosphere, particularly the rare members

The Forest Observation System, building a global reference dataset for remote sensing of forest biomass

International audienceForest biomass is an essential indicator for monitoring the Earth's ecosystems and climate. It is a critical input to greenhouse gas accounting, estimation of carbon losses and forest degradation, assessment of renewable energy potential, and for developing climate change mitigation policies such as REDD+, among others. Wall-to-wall mapping of aboveground biomass (aGB) is now possible with satellite remote sensing (RS). However, RS methods require extant, up-to-date, reliable, representative and comparable in situ data for calibration and validation. Here, we present the Forest Observation System (FOS) initiative, an international cooperation to establish and maintain a global in situ forest biomass database. aGB and canopy height estimates with their associated uncertainties are derived at a 0.25 ha scale from field measurements made in permanent research plots across the world's forests. all plot estimates are geolocated and have a size that allows for direct comparison with many RS measurements. The FOS offers the potential to improve the accuracy of RS-based biomass products while developing new synergies between the RS and ground-based ecosystem research communities