New issues of the journals of the Estonian Academy Publishers are available

Brief reviews of the journals:

OIL SHALE
The present issue of Oil Shale features the article „Comparison of the ecotoxic properties of oil shale industry by-products to those of coal ash“ by authors from Tallinn University of Technology. The article presents research on the hazardous properties of solid waste generated in the Estonian oil shale industry in the light of the requirements of European directives. The properties of the resulting ash streams were analysed and the results obtained were compared with those for coal in order to comply with common practice. It was established that the studied oil shale ash samples had a very similar composition and properties to coal and, as a result of a larger survey, oil shale ash and other oil shale heat treatment residues have not been classified as hazardous waste in Estonia from the beginning of 2020, thus initiating policy changes that affect most economic sectors.

We definitely recommend reading also the other articles of this issue. The article „The effect of pyrolysis conditions on the composition of Chinese Jimsar shale oil using FT-IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR techniques“ shows the results of how the functional groups and structural parameters of shale oil obtained during pyrolysis depend on the conditions of pyrolysis. In the article „Effect of processing conditions on the improvement of properties and recovering yield of Moroccan oil shale“ the effect of the residual mineral on the yield and composition of the resulting organic fraction is determined.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ESTONIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
The recent issue of the Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences is dedicated to the 100th birthday of Professor Ülo Lepik.

The thematic issue contains studies in most of the areas where Ülo Lepik was active for a long time with outstanding results. Some papers are devoted to the analysis of vibrations (Sorrenti et al., Lellep and Lenbaum), some to the general problems of mechanics: finding eigenvalues (Maiti and Chakraverty) and solving diffusive inverse problems (Janno et al.), but most of the papers describe the applications of Haar wavelets (Aziz et al., Hein and Jaanuska, Cattani, Mehrparvar et al.).

ESTONIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES
The March 2022 issue of the Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences contains four papers, one of which is devoted to climatology and the others to bedrock geology and palaeontology.

Ülo Suursaar documents and analyses the all-time record of marine heatwave observed in the Gulf of Finland in summer 2021. The data from the last 50–60 years show a clear warming trend in the Baltic Sea.

Tiiu Märss and Carole J. Burrow review Silurian acanthodian vertebrates and propose neotypes for several species initially described in the 19th century from the Baltic region.

Jaak Nõlvak and co-authors describe a diverse assemblage of chitinozoans (organic-walled microfossils) from the lower Middle Ordovician of the Baldone drill core from central Latvia. The authors record several taxa in Baltica for the first time and introduce four new species of potential biostratigraphic significance.

Dimitri Kaljo and co-authors review the distribution of various fossil groups in the Silurian of the Ohesaare reference drill core to identify the position of the Mid-Ludfordian Carbon Isotope Excursion and associated oceanic and biotic events. It most likely corresponds to a stratigraphic gap in the upper part of the Torgu Formation in the Ohesaare section.

LINGUISTICA URALICA
The new issue of Linguistica Uralica features an etymological study on the Finnic numerals for 8 and 9, such as Estonian kaheksa and üheksa. They are related to the roots *kakte ‘2’ and *ükte ‘1’, but their last segment, which expresses the distance to the numeral 10, has not received a satisfying explanation so far. Valentin Gusev (University of Hamburg / Institute of Linguistics, Moscow) proposes a link between the Finnic and some Samoyed data: he reconstructs the Proto-Finnic form of the suffix in question as *-ksama/-ksämä and relates it to Tundra Enets eesaa and Forest Enets neesaa ‘nine’. The result is a non-trivial Proto-Uralic numeral formation suffix *-kśama.

TRAMES. A JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
The recent issue of Trames contains two contributions by Estonian authors and four by foreign authors.

In the opening article Piia Tammpuu, Anu Masso et al examine (Tartu University and Tallinn University of Technology) Estonian e-residency and platform-based state-individual relationship. Digital state is not seen just as an e-platform manager and service provider, but also as an organisation enacting its rules of inclusion through its digital ID schemes.

This article is supplemented by Indian scholars Shilpi Saxena and Diksha Sharma's work about cultural citizenship in the diaspora context.

On the basis of Uyghurs, Sadia Rahman and Wei-En Tan from Taiwan (Republic of China) analyse the double standards of the People's Republic of China concerning human rights. China uses totally different standards domestically and internationally. The authors claim that China's activities endanger universal human rights all over the world.

Another article comes from Taiwan as well. Bireswar Dutta et al examine the consumers’ green purchase behavior in developing countries.

Lithuanian researcher Arvydas Grišinas examines mediatized political neo-myths. The aim is to establish why such myths emerge and how political, public and media actors interact in the myth-forming process. Digital culture patterns constitute the framework of the research.

The finishing article by Elvira Küün (Tartu University Narva College and University of Tallinn) has acquired an unexpected significance. The research tackles the language policy of Ukrainian families in Estonian education, describing the language practices and attitudes of Ukrainians living in Estonia on the basis of semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian immigrants. The author strives to establish how language ideology influences the choice of education language and why some families preserve their mother tongue and culture, and some do not. The article is useful for specialists in Estonia and elsewhere who have to face the problems of Ukrainian war refugees and their children, and their integration into local language environment and culture.

Additional information:
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Estonian Academy Publishers would welcome receiving new manuscripts. More information can be found on the journals’ websites.