The new issues of the scientific journals Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, Estonian Journal of Archaeology, Oil Shale, Linguistica Uralica and TRAMES were published.
Brief reviews of the journals:
LINGUISTICA URALICA
The December issue of Linguistica Uralica presents two articles on the effect of language contact: Vilja Oja (Tallinn) discusses in her study “The words for malt in Finnic languages” the structure, etymology, semantics and distribution of words which are used across the Finnic area for this essential ingredient of beer brewing. Most of these designations are formed on the basis of different loanwords. Irina Khomchenkova and Polina Pleshak (Moscow) present in their article “Russian numerals in Moksha and Hill Mari” a corpus-based study of the factors that may influence bilingual speakers’ language choice in the articulation of numeral expressions.
The full texts of the articles can be found HERE.
TRAMES. A JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
In the opening article of the latest issue of Trames, Kristjan Kikerpill and Andra Siibak from the University of Tartu examine social engineering cyber attacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Their research is based on 563 content analyses of international news media articles that deal with such attacks. It becomes clear how criminals skilfully use social context and impersonation in order to make their attacks more credible. The main themes used in scam messages include health information, personal protective equipment, cures, financial relief and donations.
The Spanish authors Nuria Sánchez, Jaume Masip and Carmen Herrero investigate how people detect, or try to detect, deceptions in everyday life. The research also helps people to discover socially constructed internet scams.
The third article in the fourth issue of Trames comes from Russian authors. Tatiana N. Litvinova and David G. Bdoyan examine the Circassian diaspora, located both in Russia and in Turkey, their self-consciousness and consolidation across borders. About 700,000 Circassians live in Russia and 2.5 million in Turkey.
The Pakistani scholars Muhammad Nadeem Mirza and Shaukat Ayub analyse Sino-Russian competition for the Central Asian sphere of influence. It is interesting how Russia feels uneasy about losing its influence in its so-called near abroad.
David W. Kim, who works both in Australia and in South-Korea, tackles the persecution of scholars in Korea in 1519. It was one of the four major purges, during which the Neo-Confucian scholars were executed, exiled or fired. Persecutions are seen from the philosophical point of view.
The journal’s last contribution is by the Saudi Arabian researcher Fahd Mohammed Taleb Saeed Al-Olaqi. He presents a comparative treatment of the humanity of Jesus and Muhammad, in order to encourage peace and tolerance in the whole world.
The full texts of the articles can be found HERE.
ESTONIAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Considerably bulkier than usual, the latest issue of the Estonian Journal of Archaeology contains five articles by Estonian, Lithuanian and British researchers. Margot Laneman’s analysis of the stone-cist graves of the Rebala Lastekangrud using the method of radiocarbon dating takes the reader furthest back in time. Among other things, the earliest chicken bone in Estonia was discovered while excavating the stone-cist graves. This is described in the article by Freydis Ehrlich and his colleagues. Marcus Roxburgh’s research focuses on the chronology and origin of items made of various copper alloys found in Jäbara C stone cist. Ivar Leimus and Andres Tvauri investigate the coins and seals among the sensationally plentiful and unique 15th century material recently discovered in the landfill in the Kalamaja area in Tallinn. The earliest clay pipes found in the archaeological layers in the old town in Vilnius are analysed by the Lithuanian archaeologist Atas Žvirblys.
The full texts of the articles can be found HERE.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ESTONIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Two thematic issues of the journal Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences were published in December.
The first issue contains selected papers presented at the joint conference “Modern Materials & Manufacturing 2021” organised by Tallinn University of Technology. The conference was attended by 450 researchers from 17 countries, from Europe and the USA. A total of 22 conference papers have been published, 7 selected from the field of materials science and engineering, 15 relating to manufacturing engineering and Industry 4.0 solutions. The conference focused on robotics, Internet of Things, digital twins, 3D printing, self-driving vehicles and other Industry 4.0 novel applications.
The full texts of the articles can be found HERE.
The other thematic issue is a selection of papers presented at the International Symposium on Visual Physiology, Environment and Perception. The eight selected articles explore various novel methods for vision treatment and examination, factors affecting vision, relationship between vision and perception. The use of computer games as a new method in amblyopia treatment is examined, the effect of blue-light-blocking lenses on the eye is explored, the effect of distance on vision is tested, different aspects in accurate eyewitness identification are studied, etc.
The full texts of the articles can be found HERE.
ESTONIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES
The December issue of the Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences contains five papers, four of which are devoted to bedrock geology and palaeontology, and one deals with geotechnical engineering.
Kārlis Kukemilks and Mārtiņš Vilnītis studied the stability of the slopes of the famous Turaida castle mound in central Latvia using Plaxis 3D software. The authors show that the modelling matches closely with the real-world conditions and helps to predict landslides in the colluvium.
Bilal Gul and co-authors present new data on the stable oxygen and carbon isotope record across the end-Ordovician mass extinction event from Estonia. They test the applicability of bulk-rock oxygen isotopes for palaeoclimate reconstruction and argue that a global cooling event is identified in the dataset.
Natalia Radkovets and co-authors characterise the Ediacaran organic-rich Kalus Beds of western Ukraine and NW Moldova, which constitute a low-quality hydrocarbon source rock. Mineralogical analysis suggest that the beds may be suitable for hydraulic fracturing.
Christopher R. C. Paul and Ursula Toomre-describe a group of Palaeozoic echinoderms, based on well-preserved fossils discovered from the Baltic region.
Olle Hints and co-authors describe a new enigmatic organic-walled microfossil, which might represent eggs of unknown marine metazoans. The new fossil is restricted to the Kunda Regional Stage, Middle Ordovician, but occurs in several localities across Baltoscandia.
The full texts of the articles can be found HERE.
OIL SHALE
This issue of Oil Shale contains an interesting article from researchers at the University of Örebro, Sweden, entitled “Environmental Impact of Alum Shale Mining and Oil and Uranium Production in Kvarntorp, Sweden, Based on History Archives and Environmental Monitoring Data” on the extent of the environmental impact of the production of old and historical oil shale (1942-1966) and uranium (1953-1961).
It contains also an article on the results obtained by the numerical method of heat exchange in the oil shale pyrolysis process.
Worth reading is also the study of the properties of Estonian kukersite oil, where new results on the properties of oil shale thermobitumen are presented.
The full texts of the articles can be found HERE.