491 research outputs found
Which Kind of Science Is Construction Management?
No full textIt is argued that the mainstream views on the nature of construction management are insufficient, and as one consequence of this, the relevance of construction management has been questioned. As a solution to this situation, construction management is suggested to be repositioned as a design science, rather than as an explanatory science. A historical consideration reveals that design science equals to one of the sciences proposed by Aristotle, however, the suggestion of Aristotle has been forgotten. Thus, there has been a long-standing neglect of the design science, which explains the present fragmentation of this field. It is argued that this redefinition of construction management will solve several problems plaguing this discipline, including the problem of relevance
Textualising an Oral Epic – Mission Completed
No full textDr.Phil., docent Lauri Harvilahti is the director of the Folklore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society. His main fields of specialty are systems for the archiving of oral tradition materials, studies on oral and literary epics and questions of ethnic and national identity.In this article the author briefly examines three cases that represent Lauri Honko’s views on the textualisation of oral epics. Furthermore, these examples offer an insight into the concept of the paradigm, which was a key concept for Lauri Honko in the field of folkloristics and in the study of religion. The three case studies are as follows:
1. A literary folk epic based on an oral tradition: the ‘singing scribe’ Elias Lönnrot, who compiled a number of versions of his Kalevala on the basis of Kalevala-metric folk poems.
2. An epic based on multimedia documentation/ fieldwork: the Siri Epic, sung by Gopala Naika. He was an erudite singer, who used to perform the epic on ritual occasions or in the work-song context.
3. An epic based on an archived oral tradition: the long epic of the Setu female singer Anne Vabarna, who produced a twin epic with the encouragement of the collector Armas Otto Väisänen, who dreamt about writing down such an epic.
These three examples all belong to the ‘second life’ category of folklore in the sense that all of them have been produced outside the ‘system of communication’ which maintains an item of folklore in its original setting
Building of Reinforced Concrete Structural Framing, Comparison and Opportunities for Substitution on the Example of the Main Building of the Estonian National Museum
No full textKäesolevas lõputöös on vastavalt lähteülesandele uuritud Eesti Rahva Muuseumi uue peahoone raudbetoonkarkassi konstruktsioone, toodud võrdlused teiste Eestis ehitatud hoonete analoogsete tehniliste lahendustega ja pakutud alternatiivsed võimalused, mis tagaksid ressursside efektiivsema ning ratsionaalsema kasutamise Eesti Rahva Muuseumi uue peahoone ehitustegevusel. Erinevate konstruktsioonide võrdlusi koostades on selgunud, et Eesti Rahva Muuseumi uue peahoone projekteerijate poolt paljud üledimensioneeritud raudbetoonkonstruktsioonid nõuavad ehitusprotsessis oluliselt suuremat materjali-, aja- ja tööjõukulu, mis muudavad ehituse maksumuse kallimaks. Samuti on loodud arhitektuurelemente, mis paiknevad piiratud juurdepääsuga ruumides ning on vaadeldavad vaid muuseumi töötajate ja ventilatsiooniseadmete hooldajate poolt, kuid ruumide kasutuse seisukohalt on tegemist ebaratsionaalsete lahendustega. Eestis varem ehitatud analoogseid hooneid uurides võib järeldada, et hoonele vajalik stabiilsus ja kandevõime on tagatav saledamate ning kergemate konstruktsioonidega. Saadud kogemuse põhjal saab järeldada, et ehitatava muuseumihoone vahelaed oleks mõistlik teostada monteeritavatest elementidest, mis säästaks aega ja muudaks ehituse tervikuna odavamaks. Ehitustegevuse ajal ilmastikust tingitud mõjutegureid on sel juhul samuti vähem. Lõputöös on ehitatava Eesti Rahva Muuseumi uue peahoone raudbetoonkonstruktsioonidele kulutatavate ressursside maht arvutatud nii reaalsetes tingimustes ehitades kui konstruktsioonide alternatiivset lahendust kasutades ning toodud välja konkreetsed näitajad, mis tõestavad ressursside efektiivsemaid kasutusvõimalusi. Lõputöö koostamisega paralleelselt sama muuseumihoone projekti elluviimine ja igapäevaselt objektil selle hoone praktiline ehitamine on aidanud paremini mõista, kuidas ja kuhu konstruktsioonides koormused liiguvad. Kujunenud oskused võimaldavad tulevikus hoone projekti alusel paremini hinnata projekteeritud kandvate konstruktsioonide lahenduste ratsionaalsust vastavalt hoone otstarbele ja teha koostööd projekteerijatega optimaalsete lahenduste leidmisel. Eesti Rahva Muuseumi uue peahoone keldri kandva konstruktsiooni näitel on käesolevas lõputöös pakutud alternatiivne konstruktsiooniline lahendus, mille kasutamine võimaldaks säästa materjale, rahalisi vahendeid ja lühendada ehituseks kuluvat aega. Eesti Rahva Muuseumi uue peahoone ehitusel objektiinsenerina igapäevaste tööülesannete täitmise ning samaaegselt lõputöö kirjutamise tulemusena on saadud selgemad arusaamad projekteerimise efektiivsusest ja oskused projekteeritud kandvate konstruktsioonide lahenduste ratsionaalsuse hindamiseks. Ebamõistlikke ja kulurohkeid tegevusi ehitusobjektil saab vähendada ja vältida, kui projekteerimisfaasis toimub konstruktsiooniliste lahenduste leidmiseks edukas koostöö ehitajate, projekteerijate ja arhitektide vahel. Tulemuseks on ressursside optimaalne kasutamine, kus materjali-, aja- ja tööjõukulude säästmine võimaldab vähendada ehituse maksumust tervikuna. Ehitustegevusele kuluvat aega saab oluliselt lühendada, kui kasutada tehases toodetud elemente ja neid objektil kokku monteerida. Hoone konstruktsioonide kandevõime peab vastama hoone kasutamise otstarbele, kordades suurema kandevõimega konstruktsioonide projekteerimine ei ole põhjendatud. Efektiivne projekteerimine loob eeldused optimaalsete kuludega hoone ehitamiseks.According to a project specification, “Building of reinforced concrete structural framing, comparison and opportunities for substution on the example on the main building of the Estonian National Museum”, the author of this final paper, studies the structures of reinforced concrete framing of the new main building of the Estonian National Museum, gives examples of comparison with other built in Estonia buildings featuring the analogical technical solutions and provides the alternative solutions that would ensure more efficient and rational use of resources in building activity in regard with the Estonian National Museum. While making comparisons between different constructions, the author realized that a process of building too many over-dimensioned reinforced concrete structures of the new main building of the Estonian National Museum require significantly bigger material consumption, greater time and labour costs which will result in higher cost of construction. At the same time, some architectural elements were designed that locate in the rooms with restricted access and are only visited by the museum personnel and the ventilation equipment maintenance technicians, however, as far as the use of the rooms is concerned, we can talk of impractical solution. Studying some analogical constructions, built in Estonia earlier, one may come to a conclusion that the load bearing capacity and stability required for the building can be ensured by use of lighter and thinner structures. Based upon the acquired data, the author realized that floors of the museum building under construction should be made from assembled elements, which would save time and make the construction of the entire building cheaper. This solution will also result in fewer external weather factors that might affect the construction. The final paper contains a volume of resources going to be spent on construction of the reinforced concrete framing of the new main building of the Estonian National Museum, calculated both for construction in real conditions and adopting the alternative structural solution; the research also contains specific data which gives evidence of the more effective feasibility. Along with the compilation of the final paper the author spent every day on site implementing the design and erecting the museum building, and he began to better realize how and where structural loads spread. For the future the author would be able to better assess the practicability of bearing structure solutions on a basis of project according to the intended use of building and ensure cooperation with design engineers with the aim of finding optimal solutions. On the example of the basement bearing structure of the new main building of the Estonian National Museum the final paper provides the alternative structural solution, the implementation of which would help save materials and finance and reduce the construction time. While performing everyday job assignments on site in course of the construction of the new main building of the Estonian National Museum and writing the final paper at the same time, the author acquired better understanding of the design efficiency and skills of assessing rationality of bearing structures design. Unreasonable and costly activities in situ could be reduced and avoided if in the stage of design the effective cooperation between builders, designers and architects would be ensured with the aim of finding structural solutions. The cooperation might result in the optimal use of resources when saving material, time and labour costs result in reduction of total construction cost. The time spent on construction can be significantly reduced if prefabricated elements are used for assembling in situ. Bearing capacity of structures must correspond to the intended use; engineering design of structures with many-fold bearing capacity is unreasonable. The efficient design will predetermine construction at optimal cost
Is sleep essential for neural plasticity in humans, and how does it affect motor and cognitive recovery?
No full textThere is a general consensus that sleep is strictly linked to memory, learning, and, in general, to the mechanisms of neural plasticity, and that this link may directly affect recovery processes. In fact, a coherent pattern of empirical findings points to beneficial effect of sleep on learning and plastic processes, and changes in synaptic plasticity during wakefulness induce coherent modifications in EEG slow wave cortical topography during subsequent sleep. However, the specific nature of the relation between sleep and synaptic plasticity is not clear yet. We reported findings in line with two models conflicting with respect to the underlying mechanisms, that is, the "synaptic homeostasis hypothesis" and the "consolidation" hypothesis, and some recent results that may reconcile them. Independently from the specific mechanisms involved, sleep loss is associated with detrimental effects on plastic processes at a molecular and electrophysiological level. Finally, we reviewed growing evidence supporting the notion that plasticity-dependent recovery could be improved managing sleep quality, while monitoring EEG during sleep may help to explain how specific rehabilitative paradigms work. We conclude that a better understanding of the sleep-plasticity link could be crucial from a rehabilitative point of view
Veridicity
No full textThis paper addresses the problem of assessing the veridicity of textual content. Has an event mentioned in the text really occurred? Who is the source of the information? What is the stance of the author of the text? Does the author indicate whether he believes the source? We will survey some of linguistic conventions that indicate the author's commitment, or the lack thereof, to the propositions contained in her text. In particular we discuss phenomena that have been studied as presuppositions or conventional implicatures in previous literature. Some of those, such as factive and non-factive verbs, have received extensive attention in the past. Some others, such as supplemental expressions (e.g. appositives, parentheticals), have not received much previous attention, although they are very common and a rich source of textual inferences. A recent study by Christopher Potts classifies supplemental expressions as conventional implicatures. We agree with Potts on the label but not on what it means. In contrast to Potts, we claim that supplemental expressions cannot always be treated as the author's direct commitments and argue that they do not constitute a basis for a distinction between presuppositions and conventional implicatures. We illustrate some cases of conventional implicature and show how they indicate an author's commitment to the truth of his statements and briefly state the importance of these distinctions for Information Extraction (IE)
Christopher Bolton, Interpreting Anime; Thomas Lamarre, The Anime Ecology: A Genealogy of Television, Animation, and Game Media
No full textIt is the year 2019 and we now live in the present of the cataclysmic event credited for first introducing the world beyond Japan to anime. I am of course talking about Akira (1988), the seminal feature-length animated film, which, as the author of one of the books reviewed here puts it, took its contemporary audiences by wonder and surprise. In a way, then, what was once part of a distant and imaginary future has somehow already become our present. And while now effectively caught up with this post-apocalyptic fantasy, there still appears to be an ongoing and unresolved battle about whether anime can be taken and discussed seriously. Scholarship is still striving to come to terms with what anime is or could be used for. Interpreting Anime by Christopher Bolton and The Anime Ecology by Thomas Lamarre aim to advance the subfield and surpass previous work; despite differences in purpose and scope, both treat anime seriously and often playfully too. Inasmuch as these efforts come from the two editors of the long-running Mechademia series (since 2006 also published by University of Minnesota Press, arguably the pioneer in the field of anime studies), the establishment of authority is also at stake here. Arguably, contrasting these two major contributions to anime scholarship will help elucidate their respective ambitions and achievements, insights and blind spots
Elachista morandinii Huemer & Kaila 2002
No full text<i>Elachista morandinii</i> Huemer & Kaila, 2002 <p> <i>Elachista morandinii</i> Huemer & Kaila, 2002: 212. Type locality: Italy, Friuli, Giulia (Huemer & Kaila 2002: 212). Holotype ♂, in MFSN.</p> <p> <i>Biselachista morandinii</i>: Parenti & Pizzolato (2015b: 544).</p> <p> Subgenus: <i>Elachista</i>; <i>tetragonella</i> species group.</p> <p>Distribution: Palearctic. Italy, Hungary.</p> <p>Larval host plant(s): unknown.</p> <p>Figs.: Huemer & Kaila (2002), Parenti & Pizzolato (2015b).</p>Published as part of <i>Kaila, Lauri, 2019, An annotated catalogue of Elachistinae of the World (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea: Elachistidae), pp. 1-231 in Zootaxa 4632 (1)</i> on page 94, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4632.1.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3335414">http://zenodo.org/record/3335414</a>
The assessment of somatosensory cortex plasticity during sleep deprivation by paired associative stimulation
No full textMany animal studies suggest that during sleep deprivation (SD) synaptic strength should progressively increase, leading to the saturation of the ability to induce long-term potentiation (LTP). Nevertheless, direct evidences about the effects of sustained wakefulness on cortical plasticity in humans are still lacking. The aim of the present study was to assess changes in the ability to induce LTP-like mechanism in humans during a period of SD by means of a paired associative stimulation (PAS) protocol, which combines median nerve stimulation with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied over the contralateral somatosensory cortex. During a 41-h SD protocol, 16 healthy subjects, defined as responders to the PAS protocol after a pre-selection session, were involved in 4 experimental sessions (11.00 a.m. and 11.00 p.m. of first and second day) with: a) pre-PAS somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) recordings; b) PAS protocol; c) post-PAS SEPs recordings. The effect of PAS on SEPs early components (N20-P25 complex) was assessed. During the first experimental session (without SD) no significant PAS effects on SEPs components amplitude have been found, and large intra- and inter-individual variability have been observed. A lack of significant changes has been observed also in the subsequent sessions. Our results index a low intra- and inter-individual reliability of the PAS protocol, suggesting particular caution when longitudinally evaluating the effect of this technique on cortical plasticit
EEG topography during sleep inertia upon awakening after a period of increased homeostatic sleep pressure
No full textOBJECTIVE:
Behavioral and physiological indexes of high sleep inertia (SI) characterize the awakening from recovery (REC) sleep after prolonged wakefulness, but the associated electroencephalogram (EEG) topography has never been investigated. Here, we compare the EEG topography following the awakening from baseline (BSL) and REC sleep.
METHODS:
We have recorded the EEG waking activity of 26 healthy subjects immediately after the awakening from BSL sleep and from REC sleep following 40 h of prolonged wakefulness. In both BSL and REC conditions, 12 subjects were awakened from stage 2 sleep, and 14 subjects from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The full-scalp waking EEG (eyes closed) was recorded after all awakenings.
RESULTS:
Subjects awakened from REC sleep showed a reduction of fronto-central alpha and beta-1 activities, while no significant effects of the sleep stage of awakening have been observed. Positive correlations between pre- and post-awakening EEG modifications following REC sleep have been found in the posterior and lateral cortices in the frequency ranges from theta to beta-2 and (only for REM awakenings) extending to the fronto-central regions in the beta-1 band, and in the midline central and parietal derivations for the alpha and delta bands, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS:
These findings suggest that the higher SI after REC sleep may be due to the fronto-central decrease of alpha and beta-1 activity and to the persistence of the sleep EEG features after awakening in the posterior, lateral, and fronto-central cortices, without influences of the sleep stage of awakenin
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