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Innbygð umhverfisáhrif af byggðarþróun Einblínt á byggingar
No full textBuildings are the key components of urban areas and society as a complex system. Traditionally, the emissions embodied in construction materials have not been considered important, in comparison with impacts from the energy use when it comes to mitigating the climate change impact of buildings. Moreover, evaluating the environmental burden of construction materials has proven problematic and the reliability of the reported impact estimates is questionable. Following the multiple case study approach, four different single-case life cycle assessment (LCA) studies were conducted in this dissertation to contribute to filling this gap.
Based on the results, the LCA approach can improve the understanding of the environmental impacts of different construction materials. Another key contribution is about the share of transport in initial embodied impacts, often not explicitly considered forming a weakly understood uncertainty factor.
Yet, the results should be interpreted cautiously. The first concern relates to the selected LCA database for the assessment that can result in very different evaluation in almost all impact categories, with climate change and fossil depletion as the only exceptions (yet with some inconsistency in them as well). The other issue is linked to the uncertainties surrounding the input data (selection of material from the database and the method) as well as the uncertainties in the sequestration capacity of a few specific materials (compressed straw, reed panels, and wooden elements). It was clear that the assessment depends heavily on those input data and sequestration capacity assumptions.
Thus, the study revealed that extensive work is still needed to improve the reliability of LCA tools in the building sector in order to provide reliable and trustworthy information for policy-making.Byggingar eru lykilþættir þéttbýlis og samfélags sem flókið kerfi. Hefð er fyrir því að losunin sem felst í byggingarefnum hafi ekki verið talin mikilvæg í samanburði við áhrif frá orkunotkun þegar kemur að því að draga úr loftslagsáhrifum bygginga. Þar að auki hefur mat á umhverfisáhrifum byggingarefna reynst vandasamt og hægt er að draga áreiðanleika matsins í efa. Með því að fylgja margvíslegri tilviksrannsóknaraðferð voru gerðar fjórar mismunandi vistferilsgreiningar (LCA) til að fylla þetta skarð.
Byggt á niðurstöðunum getur LCA nálgun bætt skilning á framlagi mismunandi hefðbundinna og annarra byggingarefna til nokkurra umhverfisáhrifaflokka. Annað lykilframlag snýst um hlutdeild flutninga í innbyggðum áhrifum, sem er oft ekki sérstaklega talin með, sem myndar lítt skilinn óvissuþátt.
Samt ætti að túlka niðurstöðurnar varlega. Fyrsta áhyggjuefnið varðar valinn LCA gagnagrunn fyrir matið sem getur leitt til mjög mismunandi mats í næstum öllum áhrifaflokkum, þar sem loftslagsbreytingar og eyðing jarðefnaeldsneytis eru einu undantekningarnar (samt með nokkru ósamræmi í þeim líka). Hitt atriðið er tengt óvissuþáttum varðandi inntaksgögnin (val á efni úr gagnagrunninum og aðferðinni) sem og óvissu í bindingargetu nokkurra tiltekinna efna (þjappað strá, reyrplötur og viður). Ljóst var að matið var mjög háð þessum inntaksgögnum og forsendum um bindingargetu.
Þannig leiddi rannsóknin í ljós að enn er þörf á mikilli vinnu til að bæta áreiðanleika LCA verkfæra í byggingargeiranum til að veita áreiðanlegar og traustvekjandi upplýsingar til stefnumótunar.Landsvirkjun fund project and one year Doctoral grant from the Eimskip Fund of the University of Icelan
Modelling metabolomic changes in human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells during oesteogenic differentiation via genome scale metabolic models to further their use in regenerative medicine
Get PDFPaper I in this thesis is under revision and may go through modification before official publication.Á undanförnum árum hafa sviðin endurnýjunar og tilfærslu lækningar vakið sífellt meiri áhuga vegna möguleikanna sem í þeim felast er varða nýjungar í læknavísindum. Innan þeirra má finna ýmis tól sem talin eru vera lykilatriði þegar kemur að því að finna og þróa ný meðferðarúrræði, og er eitt þessara tóla notkun mesenkýmal stofnfrumna (MSF). MSF hafa verið rannsakaðar m.t.t. ýmissa þátta þ.á.m. getu þeirra til að bæta endurnýjun beina og endurbyggingu beinvefs. Þrátt fyrir margvíslegar rannsóknir og meðfylgjandi framfarir í áttina að mögulegri klínískri notkun er margt sem er enn óljóst er varðar virkni og möguleika þessara frumna.
Nákvæm og skipulögð rannsókn ásamt tiltölulega nákvæmum tölvulíkönum sem geta hermt eftir efnaskiptabreytingum og líkt eftir samfylgjandi svipgerðum gætu verið leiðir til að stoppa upp í núverandi göt í þekkingu hvað varðar efnaskiptabreytingar, frá tjáningu gena til framleiðslu próteina, ásamt því að veita möguleika á tilgátuprófunum án meðfylgjandi kostnaðar.
Markmið verkefnisins sem hér er kynnt var að rannsaka efnaskiptabreytingar í mennskum MSF við beinsérhæfingu til að reyna að skilgreina mögulega efnaskipta fasa sem beinsérhæfingartímabilið væri samsett úr og búa til in silico módel byggð á genatengdum upplýsingum til að líkja eftir breytingunum.
Í fyrsta hluta þessa verkefnis var notast við innan- og utanfrumu metabolómísk gögn til að skilgreina möguleg mismunandi stig beinsérhæfingar og hvaða efnaskiptabrautir geta legið þar að baki. Eftir greiningu gagna var lögð var fram tilgáta um tilveru þriggja mismunandi fasa og merkt innanfrumu gögn bentu til dvínandi virkni í glýkólýsu í gegnum sérhæfingartímann á sama tíma og aukningu gætti í hvatbera tengdum orkugefandi ferlum eftir því sem leið á. Þessar niðurstöður geta hjálpað með að finna tímapunkta sem eru af sérstökum áhuga er varðar kortlagningu mikilvægra efnaskiptabreytinga.
Í öðrum hluta verkefnisins var notast við utanfrumu metabólómísk gögn sem safnað var frá mennskum MSF einangruðum úr beinmerg sem ræktaðar voru við venjulega skiptingu, fitu- og beinsérhæfingu, og þau notuð ásamt sértækum tilraunatengdum gögnum til að búa til þrjú sambærileg in silico módel, þau fyrstu sinnar gerðar, er líkja eftir efnaskiptabreytingum þessara þriggja frumugerða fyrstu 7 daga ræktunar. Módelin voru öll líffræðilega möguleg og sýndu af sér öll helstu einkennandi hvörf sem virk. Við greiningu og samanburð á módelunum fundust helstu breyttu undirkerfi og efnaskiptaferlar er voru einkennandi fyrir hverja frumugerð fyrir sig. Í tilviki frumna í venjulegri skiptingu voru breytt kerfi mjög fjölbreytt sem endurspeglar þær fjölbreyttu kröfur sem fruma þarf að uppfylla við að búa til annað eintak af sér, í tilviki fitusérhæfingar var nýmyndun og oxun fitusýra hvað mest áberandi og oxun fitusýra ásamt flutnings hvörfum einkenndu beinsérhæfingu. Þessi módel má nota til að sigta úr og setja upp ákjósanlegar tilraunir til að besta beinsérhæfingu og með breytingum mætti búa til sjúkdómsmódel til að líkja eftir beinþynningu.
Í þriðja þætti verkefnisins sem hér er kynnt hafa verið tekið saman þau margvíslegu einkenni og fjölmörgu möguleikar er felast í MSF sem tóli til að nýta í endurnýjunar lækningum og vefjaverkfræði og hvernig, með notkun in silico efnaskiptamódela byggðum á genaupplýsingum, þá möguleika mætti þróa áfram á skilvirkari og hraðari máta samtímis því að lækka tilraunatengdan kostnað.
Þetta verkefni hefur lagt sitt af mörkum er kemur að því að minnka núverandi eyðu þekkingar er varðar efnaskiptabreytingar er eiga sér stað í gegnum beinsérhæfingu mennskra MSF og hefur komið með að borðinu ný tól sem geta nýst til frekari rannsókna á sama sviði meðfram því að geta gert þær skilvirkari og hagkvæmari.
hefur komið með að borðinu ný tól sem geta nýst til frekari rannsókna á sama sviði meðfram
því að geta gert þær skilvirkari og hagkvæmari.In recent years the fields of regenerative and translational medicine have become the subjects of significantly growing interest due to their offer of previously unimaginable therapeutics.
Within these fields are several novel tools believed to hold the keys to furthering existing and new developments and one of those tools is human mesenchymal stem cells. One of the applications hMSCs have been studied for is enhanced osteogenic regeneration or reconstruction of new bone tissue. Although various studies have been performed and some strides been made towards a plausible clinical application there is still lot left to be discovered.
A methodical studying and relatively detailed in silico genome scale metabolic modelling occurring changes and the accompanying metabolic phenotypes could provide a means to fill in the existing knowledge gaps (from the protein level all the way to the genomic level) and, additionally, a means to perform hypotheses testing with a significant reduction when it comes to the accompanying cost.
The objective of this thesis was to study the metabolomic changes in hMSCs during osteogenic differentiation using original transcriptomic, intracellular and extracellular metabolomic data in order try and define possible metabolic stages over the course of the differentiation and use genome scale network reconstruction to create in silico models.
In the first part of this work extracellular and intracellular data were used to define possible stages to osteogenic differentiation and hypothesise which pathways may characterise the different metabolic phenotypes. Three stages were suggested based on the data and labelled intracellular metabolomics indicated a decrease in glycolytic dependencies throughout the differentiation period with an increase in mitochondria related energy producing functions as the osteogenesis progressed. This will help focus specific time points of interest and relevance when it comes to mapping the significant metabolomic changes.
In the second part of this work extracellular metabolomic data collected from BM-hMSCs during proliferation, adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation was used along with experimentally specific data to create three directly comparable genome scale metabolic models, two of which have no comparable predecessors, for those cell lineages during the first 7 days of cell culture. Models were biologically feasible and showed all lineage specific characteristic reactions as active. By analysis and comparison, the various enriched subsystems and pathways most significant for each lineage were found. Results were varied for proliferating cells, which matches that they have to synthesise various metabolites and substances to expand, whilst fatty acid oxidation and fatty acid synthesis was most prominent in adipogenesis with fatty acid oxidation as well as transport reactions characteristic for osteogenesis. These models can be used for model-driven experimental design to engineer osteogenesis and, with modifications, to create disease model for osteoporosis.
In the third part presented we summarized the various characteristics and possibilities that lie in using MSCs as a tool in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and how, via implementation of genome scale metabolic model reconstruction, their possibilities could possibly be taken much further in a faster, more methodical manner while reducing the related experimental cost.
To summarise, this work has provided real strides when it comes to closing the existing gap regarding metabolomic changes during differentiation of hMSCs as well as providing novel tools that can be used to make further studies more efficient and cost effective.The Icelandic research fund (grant number 217005)
Icelandic fisheries: Profitability, resource rent, rent taxation and development
Get PDFIn 1990, Iceland introduced a uniform individual transferable quota system (ITQ) to manage almost all of the nation’s fisheries. The development of Iceland’s fisheries under this management system were examined in the five articles this thesis consists of. The emphasis was on profitability, resource rent and rent taxation. The fishing industry has been going through a sea change in the past three decades. It has adapted well to lower catches. The number of vessels and factories, as well as employment, has reduced. The industry is now focusing more on producing for a higher paying consumer market. Quotas have been consolidated and capitalised in the balance sheet of the industry, hence, increasing its debt level. All these developments have been caused or aided by the ITQ system, leading to increased profitability in Icelandic fisheries, both in fishing and especially in the processing component.
Since 2008, the Icelandic fishing industry has been producing significant resource rent. It took the industry almost two decades to start producing rent consistently. Reduced catches caused this delay. When catches started to increase, at the same time as the Icelandic krona fell in value, resource rent was introduced and has been significant for the past decade. The fishing fee was introduced in 2004. Its main purpose is to tax the resource rent the fishing industry is producing. The fee was low in the beginning, but it was increased considerably in 2012 and subsequently became a significant expense for the industry. Setting the fee was a difficult process where problems that cropped up were solved gradually. Three stakeholders have received the resource rent created in Iceland’s fisheries. The government’s share was around 20%. It received its portion through the fishing fee and revenues from higher corporate taxes caused by rent creation. Those who have sold their fishing rights have received around 40% of the rent. A similar portion, around 40% of the rent, has been acquired by the companies that operate in the industry.
Iceland’s coastal fisheries started in 2009. These fisheries managed very differently, being classic open access fisheries with a derby style management, where the fishers race to fish. The findings of this research are that, as anticipated, the coastal fisheries are not profitable. However, contrary to expectations, the rate of accidents involving injuries was lower in coastal fisheries than in other ITQ-managed Icelandic fisheries. As expected, however, the rate of minor incidents, mostly mechanical failures, was much higher in coastal fisheries than other Icelandic fisheries
Hydrogen production via biomass gasification: simulation and performance analysis under different gasifying agents
Get PDFThis study develops a new simulation model by ASPEN Plus for gasification integrated with water-gas shift reactors and product recovery unit for hydrogen production. Timber and wood waste (T&WW) as a lignocellulosic biomass was also considered as the input feedstock to the system. Then, the model is applied to investigate the effect of two agents of air and a mixture of air-steam under different operating conditions of temperature and steam to biomass ratio (SBR). The results reveal that the produced hydrogen through the air-steam gasification is at the highest points for all studied temperatures and it would be maximum (44.37 kmol/hr per 1 ton T&WWs) at 700 °C. The hydrogen production efficiency (HPE) can be also raised, stemming from the growth of H2. It values 39.2% at SBR = 0.1 that grows to 70% at SBR = 0.9. The optimum SBR lies between 0.7–0.8 that specific mass flow rate of hydrogen would be higher than 0.1 kghydrogen/kgT&WW.This paper was a part of the project funded by Icelandic Research Fund (IRF), (in Icelandic: Rannsoknasjodur) and the grant number is
196458-051.Pre-prin
Environmental impacts of animal-based food supply chains with market characteristics
Get PDFPublisher´s version / Útgefin greinAnimal-based food supply chains lead to significant environmental impacts, which can be influenced by production systems, distribution networks and consumption patterns. To develop strategy aimed at reducing the environmental impact of animal-based food supply chains, the common environmental hotspots among different types of food, the role of transport logistics and the consequence of end market need to be better understood. Life cycle assessment was adopted to model three types of animal-based food chains (beef, butter and salmon), with specific technologies, high spatial-resolution logistics and typical consumption patterns for three markets: local, regional (intra-European) and international. The results confirmed that the farm production stage usually had the greatest environmental impact, except when air transport was used for distribution. Potentially, the role of end market also can significantly influence the environmental impacts. To understand more, three improvement options were examined in detail with regard to hotspots for climate change: novel feed ingredients (farm production stage), sustainable aviation fuel (transport and logistics stage) and reduction of wasted food (consumption and end of life stage). Significant reduction was achieved in the salmon system by sustainable aviation fuel (64%) and novel feed (15%). Minimizing food waste drove the greatest reduction in the beef supply chain (23%) and the international butter supply chain can reduce 50% of GHG mission by adopting sustainable aviation fuel. Combined interventions could reduce GHG emission of animal-based food supply chains by 15% to 82%, depending on market, transport and food waste behaviour. The results show that eco-efficiency information of animal-based foods should include the full supply chain. The effective mitigation strategy to achieve the greatest reduction should not only consider the impacts on-farm, but also detail of the downstream impacts, such as food distribution network and consumption patterns.Peer Reviewe
The explosive basaltic Katla eruption in 1918, south Iceland I: Course of events, tephra fall and flood routes
No full textPublisher´s version / Útgefin greinThe 23-day long eruption of the ice-covered Katla volcano in 1918 began on October 12 and was over by November 4. Seismicity preceding and accompanying the onset had already started by 11:30 on October 12, while the eruption broke through the glacier around 3 PM. The plume rose to 14–15 km on the first day. The eruption caused widespread tephra fall, accompanied by lightning and thunder. Tephra fall from
the intense first phase (October 12–14) was reported from Höfn, 200 km east of Katla, Reykjavík, 150 km to the west and Akureyri, 240 km to the north. The initial phase was followed by more sporadic activity for a week, and a second intense phase (October 22–24), with heavy tephra fall in populated areas east and south of the volcano. Skaftártunga (25–35 km east of Katla), was the worst hit farming district, with reported tephra thickness of 6.5–10 cm in total, collecting into drifts tens of cm thick. The Vík village suffered almost continuous tephra fall for 13 hours on October 24 and 25, leaving a 2 to 4 cm thick tephra layer on the ground. Tephra reached Reykjavík four times but minor tephra fallout («1 mm) occurred. Tephra also reached northern, western
and eastern Iceland. In addition to producing the 0.9–1.0 km3 tephra layer, which may as freshly fallen have been 1.1–1.2 km3, the eruption was accompanied by a jökulhlaup that flooded the Mýrdalssandur plain and neighbouring areas. The jökulhlaup on October 12 had two separate phases. The first phase is considered to have flowed supraglacially down the lower parts of the Kötlujökull outlet glacier into the Leirá, Hólmsá and Skálm rivers (northern fork), and the Sandvatn and Múlakvísl rivers (southern fork). It was much more widespread than the second phase which emerged from below the glacier snout and was confined to the western part of Mýrdalssandur. That phase carried huge icebergs and massive sediment load onto the sandur plain.Peer Reviewe
Mannréttindamenntun á Íslandi: Lærdómur um umbreytandi menntunarfræði af sögum framhaldsskólakennara
No full textDaily, we witness human rights violations linked to poverty, forced migration, discrimination and right-wing xenophobia, perpetuating positions of subordination and marginalisation. Human rights violations are also evident in schools. Human rights education (HRE) is a right, as articulated in human rights instruments, internationally and nationally. Yet in Iceland, HRE is not a recognised field of social justice education and research; human rights are addressed or assumed in multicultural, inclusive, sustainability, democracy and citizenship education. Democracy and human rights are one of six curriculum pillars in the 2011 national curriculum guides, suggesting a commitment to human rights. An interpretive narrative inquiry approach draws on ten upper secondary school teachers’ life stories, analysed using grounded theory and reflexive thematic analysis, to inform and extend understandings of transformative HRE. Professional knowledge from the researcher´s own narrative and analysis of human rights, HRE literature, education policy and the school context in Iceland, are used as additional data sets to inform analysis of the empirical data. Findings on teachers’ reasons for working with human rights, their practices, and perceptions of systemic challenges are used to inform teacher education. Findings suggest that teachers’ moral and political convictions, informed by cross-cultural experiences, are diluted by tacit knowledge of what human rights and HRE are. Teachers’ practices are reflective of learning through human rights rather than about and for human rights. Human rights risk being trivialised as teachers revert to familiar discourses and practices. Teachers report insufficient professional support, creating tensions and contradictions between their own human rights commitments and systemic expectations. The study argues that it is currently problematic to discuss HRE as transformative pedagogy in the context of conservative upper secondary schools. First, attention should be placed on human rights in teacher education. The study conceptualises an HRE teacher education framework aimed at developing teachers’ human rights and HRE knowledge and skills to generate human rights praxis as a counter-narrative to systemic constraints. The study contributes to international and local HRE scholarship by highlighting the responsibility and role of teacher education in sustaining human rights cultures.Á hverjum degi verðum við vitni að mannréttindabrotum sem tengjast
fátækt, flótta, mismunun, útlendingaandúð, kúgun og jaðarsetningu.
Mannréttindabrot eiga sér einnig stað í skólakerfinu. Mannréttindamenntun
er réttur sem tilgreindur er í mannréttindaskuldbindingum, bæði
staðbundnum og alþjóðlegum. Samt sem áður er mannréttindamenntun ekki
skilgreind sem hluti af réttlætismenntun eða rannsóknum á félagslegu
réttlæti en þó unnið með mannréttindi í fjölmenningarmenntun, menntun án
aðgreiningar, sjálfbærnimenntun og borgaramenntun. Lýðræði og
mannréttindi eru einn af sex grunnþáttum menntunar í aðalnámskrá frá árinu
2011 sem gefur vísbendingu um mikilvægi mannréttindamenntunar. Þessi
túlkandi frásagnarrannsókn byggist á lífssögum tíu framhaldsskólakennara,
þar sem grunduð kenning og þemagreining eru notaðar til að kryfja og víkka
út skilning á umbreytandi mannréttindamenntun. Fagþekking sem byggist á
reynslu rannsakandans sjálfs og greiningu hans á mannréttindamenntun,
menntastefnu og skólastarfi á Íslandi, er notuð sem viðbótargögn til að dýpka
greiningu viðtalsgagnanna. Niðurstöður um ástæður kennara fyrir því að
vinna með mannréttindi, aðferðir þeirra, og upplifun af kerfisbundnum
áskorunum eru notaðar til að leggja til umbætur á kennaramenntun.
Niðurstöður benda til að siðferðileg og pólitísk sannfæring kennara, sem
byggist á þvermenningarlegri reynslu, verði veikari vegna skorts á meðvitaðri
þekkingu á mannréttindamenntun. Aðferðir kennaranna endurspegla
áherslu á að læra í gegnum mannréttindi frekar en um mannréttindi eða fyrir
mannréttindi. Þegar kennarar taka upp vanabundna orðræðu og vinnulag
hættir þeim til að gefa mannréttindum lítið vægi. Kennarar segja frá
ófullnægjandi faglegum stuðningi, sem veldur togstreitu á milli þeirra eigin
skuldbindinga um mannréttindi og kerfislægra væntinga. Í rannsókninni eru
færð rök fyrir því að í dag sé vandkvæðum bundið að ræða
mannréttindamenntun sem umbreytandi kennslufræði innan hefðbundins
framhaldsskóla. Beina þarf athygli að mannréttindum í kennaramenntun.
Rannsóknin skilgreinir ramma fyrir mannréttindi sem viðfangsefni í
kennaramenntun sem hefur það markmið að efla þekkingu og færni kennara
í mannréttindamenntun og mannréttindastarfs sem andsvar við kerfislægum
hindrunum. Rannsóknin er framlag til mannréttindamenntunar sem
alþjóðlegs og staðbundins fræðasviðs og undirstrikar ábyrgð og hlutverk
kennaramenntunar í því að viðhalda mannréttindamenningu.EIMSKIP University of Iceland gran
Socio-cultural valuation of whale ecosystem services in Skjálfandi Bay, Iceland
Get PDFPre-print (óritrýnt handrit)The study examines the socio-cultural values of multiple ecosystem services (ES) sourced from whales in Skjálfandi Bay, North Iceland, with many beneficiaries living in and visiting the town of Húsavík. The study begins to address the research gap in non-monetary valuation of marine ecosystem services. Based on a multi-method approach, it elicits stakeholders' perceptions of the contribution of whale ES to human wellbeing using stakeholder mapping, semi-structured interviews, observations, and socio-cultural preference surveys. The key whale ES identified by the local stakeholders were cultural, most frequently mentioned being recreation and education. The most commonly mentioned ES values were related to economic benefits from the whale watching industry. The preference survey reveals that regulating and maintenance ES were valued most highly with a mean score of 4.0 out of 5.0, cultural ES were second with a mean score of 3.5, and provisioning ES in the form of food and raw materials were valued the least with a mean of 0.75. Interview data also reveals some marine ES management challenges originating from intensified tourism, industrial development, and climate change. The results of the study have the potential to inform marine resource management in Iceland by including socio-cultural values associated with whale resources.This paper has been subject to funding from NordForsk (grant number 76654) via their financial support to the Nordic Centre of Excellence ARCPATH (Arctic Climate Predictions – Pathways to Resilient, Sustainable Communities) and the Doctoral Grant of the University of Iceland Research Fund
Lost in Translation: Adapting Supernatural Concepts from Old French Chivalric Literature into the Old Norse riddarasǫgur
Get PDFWhile the post-millennial research of Old Norse literature saw an increased interest in the study of translated riddarasǫgur, the scholarly focus in these studies rests, for the main part, on the effects of translation, the role and representation of women and the studies of emotion portrayed in the narratives. However, the effect of translation on supernatural concepts – especially of Old Norse concepts – has, so far, been left unaddressed. The present thesis, thus, aims to bridge this gap in scholarship by investigating how the Old Norse translations and adaptations of Old French chivalric works had an altering and long-lasting effect on the Old Norse mythological landscape. Indeed, the present research project hopes to establish the translated riddarasǫgur as a valued source for the study of the development of Old Norse supernatural concepts. By highlighting the influx of foreign Old French ideas and their impact on the Old Norse literature and mythology, this study aspires to present new approaches regarding the understanding of the development of Old Norse supernatural concepts as well as their subsequent changes. Bearing the human element in translation as well as medieval translation practices in mind, the present thesis investigates twelfth- and thirteenth century Old French courtly romances and associated material as well as the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Old Norse translations, redactions and reworkings thereof. The supernatural motifs (specifically the álfar, dvergar, jǫtnar and different forms of magic and magic wielders) described in these narratives will be examined in detail. The thesis includes an article concerning each concept which studies the differences and similarities in the concept’s presentation and measures the potential long-term effects initiated by the said translations by investigating later fornaldarsǫgur, indigenous riddarasǫgur and Icelandic folk legends. The first paper contained in the present thesis concerns the use of the Old Norse supernatural concept of the álfar (sg. álfr) as a translation for the Old French term fées (sg. fée), while the second article investigates the usage of the word dvergar (sg. dvergr) as a translation for the Old French nains (sg. nain) in the investigated literary corpora. The penultimate article examines the utilisation of the concept of the Old Norse jǫtnar (sg. jǫtunn) as a translation for the Old French idea of the jaiants (sg. jaiant), and the fourth and final article investigates the different notions and manifestations of magic and magic wielders displayed in the investigated Old French sources as well as their respective Old Norse renditions. This research project hopes to open this particular field of research to the broader scientific community by laying down what may be seen as the first stepping-stone for a series of related studies.Rannsóknir fræðimanna á þýðingum riddarasagna hafa eflst til muna eftir aldamótin en hið sama gildir ekki um rannsóknir á sjálfum efniviðni sagnanna, svo sem hvernig birtingarmynd kvenna er sýnd gegnum tilfinningar þeirra í sögunum. Hingað til hefur lítið verið kannað hvort og þá hver áhrif þýðingar efnis um yfirnáttúrulega hluti og atburði sem snúa að norrænni trú hafa verið. Markmið þessarar ritgerðar er að sýna fram á áhrif fornra franskra riddarasagna á hugmyndaheim norrænna manna um umhverfi sitt og landlýsingu, auk þess að sýna fram á áreiðanleika riddarasagna að því er varðar hugmyndir norrænna manna um hið yfirnáttúrlega. Ritgerðin greinir slíkar hugmyndir í hinum forn-frönsku bókmenntum og skoðar áhrif þeirra og innblástur í norrænum bókmenntum og goðafræði og sýnir þannig hvernig skilningur manna á yfirnáttúrulegum atburðum hefur þróast í aldanna rás. Í ritgerðinni er athyglinni einkum beint að hinum norrænu þýðingum tólftu og þrettándu aldar ástarsagna fornfranskra bókmennta og skoðað sérstaklega hvaða hlutverki hinn mannlegi þáttur og þeirra tíma þýðingarhefðir gegna. Yfirnáttúrulegar verur, svo sem álfar, dvergar og jötnar, auk ýmissa galdrahugtaka, sem fram koma í þessum frásögnum eru teknar til ítarlegrar skoðunar, og fjallað er um hverja áðurnefnda tegund í sérstökum kafla. Með samanburði við seinni tíma fornaldarsögur, upprunalegar riddarasögur og íslenskar þjóðsögur eru þessar þýðingar skoðaðar í þeim tilgangi að greina áhrif á hin yfirnáttúrulegu fyrirbæri í þeim. Í fyrsta hluta þessarar ritgerðar er fjallað um álfa í norrænum heimildum og goðsögulega tengingu þeirra við forn-franska hugtakið fées (eint. fée), annar hlutinn fjallar um dverga og hliðstæða tengingu þeirra við fornfranska hugtakið nains (eint. nain) með bókmenntafræðilegri nálgun. Meginkafli ritgerðarinar fjallar á sama hátt um jötna og hlistæða tengingu þeirra við fornfranska hugtakið jaiants (eint. jaiant). Í síðasta kaflanum er svo fjallað um norrænar galdrahefðir og galdratrú með hliðsjón af birtingarmynd þeirra í fornfrönskum bókmenntum. Með ritgerð þessari vonast höfundur til að opna gátt inn á lítt kannað fræðasvið sem getur eflt og víkkað rannsóknarhugmyndir og -aðferðir fræðimanna í fornnorrænum rannsóknum. (Ingunn Ásdísardóttir þýddi.)Rannsóknarsjóður Háskóla Íslands/ The Doctoral Grant of the University of Iceland Research Fun
iContractBot: A chatbot for smart contracts’ specification and code generation
Get PDFPre-print (Óritrýnt handrit)Recently, Blockchain technology adoption has expanded to many application areas due to the evolution of smart contracts. However, developing smart contracts is non-trivial and challenging due to the lack of tools and expertise in this field. A promising solution to overcome this issue is to use Model-Driven Engineering (MDE), however, using models still involves a learning curve and might not be suitable for non-technical users. To tackle this challenge, chatbot or conversational interfaces can be used to assess the non-technical users to specify a smart contract in gradual and interactive manner. In this paper, we propose iContractBot, a chatbot for modeling and developing smart contracts. Moreover, we investigate how to integrate iContractBot with iContractML, a domainspecific modeling language for developing smart contracts, and instantiate intention models from the chatbot. The iContractBot framework provides a domain-specific language (DSL) based on the user intention and performs model-to-text transformation to generate the smart contract code. A smart contract use case is presented to demonstrate how iContractBot can be utilized for creating models and generating the deployment artifacts for smart contracts based on a simple conversationWe acknowledge the support of the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís) , [funding reference number 218202-051]