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This article outlines the key propositions and further prospects of the media event theory established by Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz in their 1992 book Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History. The ritual approach they suggested, according to which media events are understood as large-scale televised performances meant to integrate society, has received a variety of alternative interpretations. The critique of media events' ceremonial model mainly follows three directions: (1) the restrictions of the neo-Durkheimian paradigm, which emphasizes the consensual nature of media events; (2) the narrowness of the initial definition of media events' genre and its three scenarios ("conquests", "contests", "coronations"); (3) consideration of media events as televised phenomena only, without taking into account other types of media and their interaction. This article shows that one of the possible extensions of Dayan and Katz's theory can be to develop the concept of transformative media events, which are understood as mediatized social dramas framing the renewal of the social order or its basic institutions. Special attention is paid to methodological difficulties involved in identifying the criteria of transformative media events. For instance, the matter of whether events which have not led to significant social changes (such as failed protest actions) can be considered transformative; whether the event's "vector" (progressive or regressive) should be taken into account; which levels and segments of social life allow for the emergence of phenomena which can qualify as transformative media events — all of these questions remain open. The article emphasizes that these conceptual difficulties are connected to the more fundamental problem of distinguishing between media events and non-media-events in the digital era. The conclusion contains some thoughts as to why the discussion about "the end of media events" is still far from over.

Article on the use of the paradigm of self-organization theory as a basis for the application of scientific methodology in the humanitarian and economic disciplines. The author substantiates the link between the laws of dialectics, thermodynamics, biology and patterns of socio-economic development.

Lean technologies are an instrument to increase company operational performance significantly. They have received worldwide adoption some time ago, and are becoming more and more popular among Russian companies. The purpose of the article is to reveal how comprehensive the lean conceptions adoption potential is realizing on Russian ground, what are possibilities of effective use them under volatile environment, and how thoroughly the issue is reflected in business and scientific literature.

The author's point of view is presented, according to which, formulated back in the 80s of the last century by Yu.M. Lopukhin et al., the cholesterol theory of aging and death is now often misunderstood by many biologists and physicians. It is emphasized that this theory prioritized not the well-known role of cholesterol (CS) in metabolic processes, but its structural role in the plasma membrane of the cell. It was assumed that an increase in the microviscosity of the cell membrane due to the accumulation of CS in it leads to a deterioration in the transfer of external signals and nutrients to the cell, as well as to a decrease in the activity of membrane enzymes. This, according to the authors, triggers the occurrence of "senile" changes in cells, tissues and organs, and then in the entire multicellular organism, which ultimately leds to an increase in the probability of its death, that is, to aging. At the same time, the content of CS (mainly, of considered to be especially "bad" CS of low density lipoproteins) in serum was assigned only a minor role, because its increase is not at all necessary, according to the authors of the concept, leads to adverse changes in the body. This paper briefly discusses the evolution of ideas about the possible role of CS in aging and the development of various age-related pathologies, mainly cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders. Experimental data on the effect of liposomes containing both normal and oxidized CS on the proliferative activity of cultured cells are analyzed. The data of longitudinal studies are considered, suggesting that, paradoxically, it is people with elevated levels of CS in the blood plasma who live to an advanced age. At the same time, the consumption of large amounts of food rich in CS may not affect the health of some patients. It is noted that a number of studies indicate the absence of a causal relationship between the level of CS in serum and the occurrence of atherosclerotic changes. It is emphasized that CS is a very important compound for our body, without which cell proliferation and, as a result, normal regeneration are impossible. It is noted that there is a continuously increasing amount of data on the negative role of statins in the formation of age-related pathology, especially in people of older age groups. It is concluded that at present it becomes obvious that there is a need for a significant reappraisal (using the systems approach) of ideas about the possible role of CS in aging, the development of atherosclerosis and other age-related diseases, as well as dementias due to various causes, including Alzheimer's disease.