Love as a Fictitious Commodity: Gift-for-Sex Barters as Contractual Carriers of Intimacy

Abstract Gift-for-sex (GFS) barters are a niche practice potentially representing the commodification of everyday dating practices. We inquire how GFS exchanges are practiced and understood in contemporary Russia. Second, we situate these in relation to contemporary economic culture. Our project provides answers in two steps based on online content. First, we identify GFS exchange practices within a major dating website. Next, we take the signals exchanged in those dating profiles and display their intersubjective meanings in Russia based on blogs and discussion fora. Our analysis focuses on gender roles and inter-gender conflicts, the use of economic jargon, the link between luxury consumption and sexuality, and understandings of gift-giving and generosity, in order to show how GFS barters, despite being contractual, carry emotional and romantic content. As such, love is under a constant conversion process, through the medium of the contractual gift, into the fictitious commodity form

Sustainability of apple fruits cv. Berkutovskoye to physiological diseases under different storage technologies

The research was carried out at the Federal Research Center named after I.V. Michurin (Tambov region, Russia), using a promising apple cultivar Berkutovskoye with a high susceptibility to superficial scald. The aim of the research was to study the influence of storage technologies with different oxygen content in the storage atmosphere on the losses from scald and other diseases of apple fruit cv. Berkutovskoye. Control and 1-MCP-treated fruits were stored under regular (RA) and controlled atmosphere with its modifications (ULO-1: O2 - 1.2-1.5%, CO2 - 1.2-1.5%, ULO-2: O2 - 0.8%, CO2 - 0.8-1%, DCA - O2 - 0.7% with a decrease to 0.4%, CO2 0.7-0.8%). Protection from scald was not provided in control fruits stored under RA, ULO-1, ULO-2 and DCA conditions, the appearance of the disease occured earlier under ULO-1 conditions with higher degree of its development. 1-MCP treatment inhibits the synthesis of ethylene, α-farnesene, and CT281. The technology 1-MCP + RA provides fruit protection from scald for 3-4 months, with a decrease in fruit quality and the appearance of greasiness (up to 10%); the technology 1-MCP + ULO-1 protects fruits from scald for no more than 3-4 months; technologies 1-MCP + ULO-2 and 1-MCP + DCA – for more than 4.5 months. Reducing the time of atmosphere setup and optimization of storage parameters for ULO-2 and DCA technologies (with an oxygen content less than 0.8%) can provide a higher level of the quality maintenance of apple fruits cv. Berkutovskoye, without risks of anaerobic disorders

Love as a Fictitious Commodity: Gift-for-Sex Barters as Contractual Carriers of Intimacy

Gift-for-sex (GFS) barters are a niche practice potentially representing the commodification of everyday dating practices. We inquire how GFS exchanges are practiced and understood in contemporary Russia. Second, we situate these in relation to contemporary economic culture. Our project provides answers in two steps based on online content. First, we identify GFS exchange practices within a major dating website. Next, we take the signals exchanged in those dating profiles and display their intersubjective meanings in Russia based on blogs and discussion fora. Our analysis focuses on gender roles and inter-gender conflicts, the use of economic jargon, the link between luxury consumption and sexuality, and under- standings of gift-giving and generosity, in order to show how GFS barters, despite being contractual, carry emotional and romantic content. As such, love is under a constant conversion process, through the medium of the contractual gift, into the fictitious commodity form