The new issues of the scientific journals Estonian Journal of Archaeology, Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, Linguistica Uralica, Oil Shale, Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and TRAMES have been published.
Brief reviews of the journals:
ESTONIAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
The new issue of the Estonian Journal of Archaeology contains three important articles. Anu Lillak, Mari Tõrv and Ester Oras analyse cremated burials found in Roman Iron Age tarand grave I in Viimsi, northern Estonia. The authors aim to outline how a detailed investigation of the skeletal material combined with statistical and spatial analysis can reveal burial customs and specific ritual practices, as well as the social status of the deceased. Margot Laneman completes her series of articles about radiocarbon dating of stone-cist graves, concentrating this time on cemeteries at the lower reaches of the Pirita River. Polish archaeologist Beata Miazga presents an archaeometric analysis of painted decorations on late- and post-medieval glassware found in Wrocław.
ESTONIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES
The June 2022 issue of the Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences contains four papers devoted to geospatial data analysis, oceanography, bedrock topography mapping and Silurian fossils. The geographical coverage of this issue extends from western Estonia to eastern Africa.
Polina Lemenkova applied a combination of scripting and traditional methods for analysing and visualising gravitational and digital elevation data of Tanzania. Using open data and freely available tools QGIS, R and General Mapping Tools, the author created a practical framework and example for organising similar thematic projects elsewhere.
Rain Männikus and co-authors analysed the impact of bathymetry on the propagation direction of wind waves near Ruhnu Island. The study showed that Ruhnu Harbour needs a complicated set of breakwaters to cope with the refracted saturated wave fields.
Linda Hints and co-authors studied Silurian biodiversity dynamics of brachiopods, echinoderms, trilobites and conodonts based on drill core material from Saaremaa, western Estonia. They showed that the highest diversity within benthic communities in the Baltic Palaeobasin was reached just before the Ireviken Event, a biotic turnover and rapid environmental change.
Igor Tuuling and co-authors applied seismo-acoustic profiling techniques to map bedrock topography and thickness of Quaternary deposits in the coastal sea between the Estonian mainland and the islands of Muhu and Saaremaa. The new high-resolution data suggests that deep bedrock depressions were formed by combining erosions of preglacial rivers and Pleistocene glaciers.
LINGUISTICA URALICA
The new issue of Linguistica Uralica features an article on language survival among the Ivdel Mansi. This small group of North Mansi lives in the north of the Sverdlovsk Region, on the upper reaches of the rivers Loz’va and Pelym and has been known for their persistent language maintenance. Earlier they were described by Gábor Székely. Now Yuri Koryakov and Daria Zhornik have compiled a sociolinguistic contribution about this isolated Mansi group of less than 200 people. The article presents information on the recent history of the Ivdel Mansi community, demography, and education of Ivdel Mansi children.
OIL SHALE
The present issue of Oil Shale has four interesting articles. In the first article (“Characterization and pyrolysis of Mongolian Uvdug Khooloin Gashuun oil shale”), Mongolian scientists present their research on the physical-chemical composition of Mongolian Uvdug Khooloin Gashuun oil shale, as well as shed light on the potential of this oil shale to serve as a raw material for obtaining liquid fuel.
Two articles by Chinese scientists provide new information on the kinetics of oil shale pyrolysis and the basic structure of kerogen.
In the article “Long-term stability of pillars in an underground oil shaft mine”, Estonian scientists introduce a methodology developed to assess the stability of the extracted areas over a longer period of time, taking into account the temporal weakening of the mine pillars.
The journal congratulates the grand old man of Estonian oil shale exploration Alfred Elenurm, who celebrated his 100th birthday on May 11, 2022.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ESTONIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
The June issue of the Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences covers a wide range of topics, from molecular physics and optics to energy efficiency and topological algebras.
In the review article by Jeffrey R. Reimers and co-authors, the conceptual formalism to understand the properties and function of chlorophylls in the gas and solution phases as well as in protein matrices was studied. A critical feature of chlorophyll spectroscopy was determined to be absorption-emission asymmetry. Its ramifications for chlorophyll’s function in photosystems are expected to be significant, as most current models for understanding their function assume that absorption and emission are symmetric.
Ott Rebane and co-authors studied bacterial spore’s fluorescence dependence on vaporised hydrogen peroxide concentration. The purpose of the study by Erkata Yandri and co-authors was to technically design an aluminium scrap processing machine by utilising the direct exhaust hot air using a conveyor drying system. Abrar Hussain and co-authors analysed tribological and circular economy aspects of polypropylene/cotton fibre hybrid composite. The journal’s last contribution is by Mart Abel, who presents a study on topological algebras.
TRAMES. A JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
The recent issue of Trames contains two articles by Estonian authors and five by foreign authors.
In the opening article, the academician Jüri Engelbrecht and his Croatian colleague Ivo Šlaus analyse the growing role of the academies of science in today’s world. The academies need cooperation that would strengthen the creation and distribution of knowledge. The main principles of academies include independence of thinking, top standards and authority.
In their research, Muhammad Junaid Mughali et al from Pakistan and Malaysia examine Islamic science. According to the authors, Islamic science differs from Western science in its aims and philosophical foundations.
Tianyu Lei from the USA analyses the history of literary discourse about the Chinese “Great Canon”, also “Great Canon” in the literature of late imperial China, the 98th chapter of “Journey to the West”, and finally offers a new interpretation of “wordless scriptures”.
Chinese philosopher Ning Zhang looks at the legitimacy of Karl Marx’s ecology. According to critics, Marx’s theory lacks ecological content or is outdated. Zhang considers Marx’s ecology fully legitimate and, in his opinion, it has not lost its explanatory power for modern ecological problems.
The research by Chinese educational scientist Bouchaib Chkaif et al examines African students’ mobility to China. The issue is tackled systematically from an ecological point of view.
Hsiao-Ping Chiu from Taiwan addresses playful and social interaction in the game of escape rooms. The author investigates the player experience of real-life escape rooms, playful design factors and the players’ behaviour. The players’ behaviour includes individual and team behaviour: searching, thinking, observing, physical activity, communication, information sharing, making decisions and cooperation.
The last contribution to the current issue of Trames comes from the young scholar Simone Eelmaa from the University of Tartu. She examines sexual abuse and sexualisation of children in the virtual world’s deepfakes and hentai (anime and manga pornography). The crucial issues here include illegality, art, promotion of paedophilia, increased offending and general harmfulness, as well as the question of who a minor actually is.
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