The present study was to further the understanding of the conceptual relationship between narrative absorption, that is the intense engagement with a story world, and felt suspense, that is the anticipation of a narrative outcome event. To this end, a media comparative online experiment was conducted with a 2 (Media format: film vs. Literature) × 2 (Suspense structure: diegetic vs. Non-diegetic delay) × 2 (Stories) between subject design. Results revealed a complex relationship among felt suspense, attention, emotional engagement, and transportation, showing the high importance of attention in felt suspense, and the moderating effect of media format and gender. Findings indicate that non-diegetic suspense delay unlike diegetic suspense decreases felt suspense and narrative absorption independently of media format.
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Most film viewers know the experience of being deeply absorbed in the story of a popular film. It seems that at such moments they lose awareness of watching a movie. And yet it is highly unlikely that they completely ignore the fact that they watch a narrative and technological construction. Perhaps film viewers experience being in a story world while simultaneously being aware of its construction. Such a dual awareness would seem paradoxical, because the experience of the one would go at the cost of the other. We argue that the solution of this paradox requires dropping the notion of an undivided consciousness, and replacing it with one of consciousness as coming in degrees. In this chapter we present both cognitive and film-analytic arguments for differential awareness of story and narration/technology, and argue that a characteristic of absorption is to be found in story world super-consciousness.
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When reading literary narratives, we assume that readers can get absorbed in the story world and in the story's artifice. Since most absorption research focuses primarily on popular media, virtually no attention has been paid to the possibility that literary devices such as deviation could elicit absorption experiences or that absorption could be aesthetic in nature. This chapter takes an interdisciplinary approach combining insights from media psychology, literary studies, and aesthetics to present a theoretical framework for two different varieties of narrative aesthetic absorption during reading: story world absorption and artifact absorption. We propose that these varieties mirror the distinction made by narratologists between story and discourse and the distinction made by emotion psychologists between F and A emotions.
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For almost fifteen years, the availability and regulatory acceptance of new approach methodologies (NAMs) to assess the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME/biokinetics) in chemical risk evaluations are a bottleneck. To enhance the field, a team of 24 experts from science, industry, and regulatory bodies, including new generation toxicologists, met at the Lorentz Centre in Leiden, The Netherlands. A range of possibilities for the use of NAMs for biokinetics in risk evaluations were formulated (for example to define species differences and human variation or to perform quantitative in vitro-in vivo extrapolations). To increase the regulatory use and acceptance of NAMs for biokinetics for these ADME considerations within risk evaluations, the development of test guidelines (protocols) and of overarching guidance documents is considered a critical step. To this end, a need for an expert group on biokinetics within the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to supervise this process was formulated. The workshop discussions revealed that method development is still required, particularly to adequately capture transporter mediated processes as well as to obtain cell models that reflect the physiology and kinetic characteristics of relevant organs. Developments in the fields of stem cells, organoids and organ-on-a-chip models provide promising tools to meet these research needs in the future.
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We have investigated the photoionization and photodissociation of free coronene cations C24H12+ upon soft X-ray photoabsorption in the carbon K-edge region by means of a time-of-flight mass spectrometry approach. Core excitation into an unoccupied molecular orbital (below threshold) and core ionization into the continuum both leave a C 1s vacancy, that is subsequently filled in an Auger-type process. The resulting coronene dications and trications are internally excited and cool down predominantly by means of hydrogen emission. Density functional theory was employed to determine the dissociation energies for subsequent neutral hydrogen loss. A statistical cascade model incorporating these dissociation energies agrees well with the experimentally observed dehydrogenation. For double ionization, i.e., formation of intermediate C24H123+trications, the experimental data hint at loss of H+ ions. This asymmetric fission channel is associated with hot intermediates, whereas colder intermediates predominantly decay via neutral H loss.
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The chromatographic behavior of petanin, petunidin-3-O-[6-O-(4-O-(E)-para-coumaroyl-O-α-rhamnopyranosyl)-β-glucopyranoside]-5-O-β-glucopyranoside, is studied for the first time under conditions of reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography in mobile phases with different pH values. The relationship between chromatographic behavior (retention time and peak efficiency) and transitions between different forms of anthocyanins is discussed. Analysis of the data obtained in the 2 to 6.5 range of mobile pH phases, the absorption spectra of petanin, and the results from studying the effect of adding tetrabutylammonium bromide to the mobile phase shows that increasing the pH results in the formation of uncharged and anionic forms, in addition to the pseudobase form.
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Small urban water bodies, like ponds or canals, are often assumed to cool their surroundings during hot periods, when water bodies remain cooler than air during daytime. However, during the night they may be warmer. Sufficient fetch is required for thermal effects to reach a height of 1–2 m, relevant for humans. In the ‘Really cooling water bodies in cities’ (REALCOOL) project thermal effects of typical Dutch urban water bodies were explored, using ENVI-met 4.1.3. This model version enables users to specify intensity of turbulent mixing and light absorption of the water, offering improved water temperature simulations. Local thermal effects near individual water bodies were assessed as differences in air temperature and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). The simulations suggest that local thermal effects of small water bodies can be considered negligible in design practice. Afternoon air temperatures in surrounding spaces were reduced by typically 0.2 °C and the maximum cooling effect was 0.6 °C. Typical PET reduction was 0.6 °C, with a maximum of 1.9 °C. Night-time warming effects are even smaller. However, the immediate surroundings of small water bodies can become cooler by means of shading from trees, fountains or water mists, and natural ventilation. Such interventions induce favorable changes in daytime PET.
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Exercise is one of the external factors associated with impairment of intestinal integrity, possibly leading to increased permeability and altered absorption. Here, we aimed to examine to what extent endurance exercise in the glycogen‐depleted state can affect intestinal permeability toward small molecules and protein‐derived peptides in relation to markers of intestinal function. Eleven well‐trained male volunteers (27 ± 4 years) ingested 40 g of casein protein and a lactulose/rhamnose (L/R) solution after an overnight fast in resting conditions (control) and after completing a dual – glycogen depletion and endurance – exercise protocol (first protocol execution). The entire procedure was repeated 1 week later (second protocol execution). Intestinal permeability was measured as L/R ratio in 5 h urine and 1 h plasma. Five‐hour urine excretion of betacasomorphin‐7 (BCM7), postprandial plasma amino acid levels, plasma fatty acid binding protein 2 (FABP‐2), serum pre‐haptoglobin 2 (preHP2), plasma glucagon‐like peptide 2 (GLP2), serum calprotectin, and dipeptidylpeptidase‐4 (DPP4) activity were studied as markers for excretion, intestinal functioning and recovery, inflammation, and BCM7 breakdown activity, respectively. BCM7 levels in urine were increased following the dual exercise protocol, in the first as well as the second protocol execution, whereas 1 h‐plasma L/R ratio was increased only following the first exercise protocol execution. FABP2, preHP2, and GLP2 were not changed after exercise, whereas calprotectin increased. Plasma citrulline levels following casein ingestion (iAUC) did not increase after exercise, as opposed to resting conditions. Endurance exercise in the glycogen depleted state resulted in a clear increase of BCM7 accumulation in urine, independent of DPP4 activity and intestinal permeability. Therefore, strenuous exercise could have an effect on the amount of food‐derived bioactive peptides crossing the epithelial barrier. The health consequence of increased passage needs more in depth studies.
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