301 research outputs found

    Corneille, Molière et les autres. Stilometrische Analysen zu Autorschaft und Gattungszugehörigkeit im französischen Theater der Klassik

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    The digital age, by making large amounts of text available to us, prompts us to develop new and additional reading strategies supported by the use of computers and enabling us to deal with such amounts of text. One such "distant reading" strategy is stylometry, a method of quantitative text analysis which relies on the frequencies of certain linguistic features such as words, letters or grammatical units to statistically assess the relative similarity of texts to each other and to classify texts on this basis. This method is applied here to French drama of the seventeenth century, more precisely to the now famous "Corneille / Molière- controversy". In this controversy, some researchers claim that Pierre Corneille wrote several of the plays traditionally attributed to Molière. The methodological challenge, it is shown here, lies in the fact that categories such as authorship, genre (comedy vs. tragedy) and literary form (prose vs. verse) all have an influence on stylometric distance measures and classification. Cross-genre and cross-form authorship attribution needs to distinguish such competing signals if it is to produce reliable attribution results. This contribution describes two attempts to accomplish this, parameter optimization and feature-range selection. The contribution concludes with some more general remarks about the use of quantitative methods in a hermeneutic discipline such as literary studies

    A Life Interrupted: Essays in honour of the lives and legacies of Christof Heyns

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    This volume of essays, A life interrupted: essays in honour of the lives and legacies of Christof Heyns, honours Christof Heyns, renowned human rights lawyer, advocate, activist and educator, but also down-to-earth family man, friend and colleague. Christof’s sudden and most untimely passing on 28 March 2021 deeply saddened those close to him but also evinced an outpouring of grief from the national and international human rights community. His passing brought a deep sense of loss, in part because, at age 62, he was fully engaged in contributing to the betterment of society and still had so much more to give. His is a life interrupted. But at the same time, looking back over the varied lives he lived, he had already left his mark in so many ways. His influences and impacts are manifold and magical. This collection not only testifies to the legacy that he has left us, but also to the ongoing efforts of many to continue building on his legacy. This collection contains two sets of essays by family members, friends, colleagues, collaborators and students. Part A contains essays of a more reflective and personal nature, while the contributions in Part B link to the scholarly or academic themes Christof had worked on and explored, including international human rights systems, international law, the right to life, freedom of association, international humanitarian law, the impact of human rights treaties, constitutionalism and legal philosophy. However, a neat distinction between the personal and professional is not possible in respect of such a warm, generous and enthusiastic person as Christof. Most of the essays in Part A integrate some of Christof’s professional and academic achievements, while many of the essays in Part B also reflect on Christof as a person. The editors, all based at the Faculty of Law, UP, are colleagues and friends who worked closely with Christof. Frans Viljoen succeeded Christof as Director of the Centre for Human Rights. Christof was his doctoral supervisor, mentor and research collaborator. Charles Fombad worked with Christof at ICLA, and took over as ICLA Director after Christof’s passing. Dire Tladi, an ICLA fellow, had his office just across from Christof in ICLA. As member of the International Law Commission, he shared with Christof high level engagement with the UN. While Christof served on the Human Rights Committee, his colleague Ann Skelton serves on the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Magnus Killander worked closely with Christof as co-author and co-editor. Christof was also his doctoral supervisor. The publication date of this book is 10 January 2022, which is the date marking 63 years since Christof’s birth. The publisher is the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), of which Christof was also a founder.PublishedThis volume of essays, A life interrupted: essays in honour of the lives and legacies of Christof Heyns, honours Christof Heyns, renowned human rights lawyer, advocate, activist and educator, but also down-to-earth family man, friend and colleague. Christof’s sudden and most untimely passing on 28 March 2021 deeply saddened those close to him but also evinced an outpouring of grief from the national and international human rights community. His passing brought a deep sense of loss, in part because, at age 62, he was fully engaged in contributing to the betterment of society and still had so much more to give. His is a life interrupted. But at the same time, looking back over the varied lives he lived, he had already left his mark in so many ways. His influences and impacts are manifold and magical. This collection not only testifies to the legacy that he has left us, but also to the ongoing efforts of many to continue building on his legacy. This collection contains two sets of essays by family members, friends, colleagues, collaborators and students. Part A contains essays of a more reflective and personal nature, while the contributions in Part B link to the scholarly or academic themes Christof had worked on and explored, including international human rights systems, international law, the right to life, freedom of association, international humanitarian law, the impact of human rights treaties, constitutionalism and legal philosophy. However, a neat distinction between the personal and professional is not possible in respect of such a warm, generous and enthusiastic person as Christof. Most of the essays in Part A integrate some of Christof’s professional and academic achievements, while many of the essays in Part B also reflect on Christof as a person. The editors, all based at the Faculty of Law, UP, are colleagues and friends who worked closely with Christof. Frans Viljoen succeeded Christof as Director of the Centre for Human Rights. Christof was his doctoral supervisor, mentor and research collaborator. Charles Fombad worked with Christof at ICLA, and took over as ICLA Director after Christof’s passing. Dire Tladi, an ICLA fellow, had his office just across from Christof in ICLA. As member of the International Law Commission, he shared with Christof high level engagement with the UN. While Christof served on the Human Rights Committee, his colleague Ann Skelton serves on the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Magnus Killander worked closely with Christof as co-author and co-editor. Christof was also his doctoral supervisor. The publication date of this book is 10 January 2022, which is the date marking 63 years since Christof’s birth. The publisher is the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), of which Christof was also a founder

    Für eine computergestützte literarische Gattungsstilistik

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    Der vorliegende Beitrag plädiert für eine computergestützte literarische Gattungsstilistik, verstanden als eine Forschungsagenda für die Literaturwissenschaften, welche hermeneutische und quantitative Methoden verbindet. Diese Agenda wird im Zusammenhang mit einem in Vorbereitung befindlichen Forschungsprojekt zum gleichen Thema formuliert, das in der romanistischen Literaturwissenschaft angesiedelt ist. Aus diesem Forschungsprojekt werden zwei Zwischenergebnisse berichtet: das erste betrifft die konzeptuelle Verknüpfung von Gattungstheorie und computergestützter Stilistik; das zweite betrifft die methodische Erweiterung der Principal Component Analysis (PCA) für literaturwissenschaftliche Fragestellungen

    Timbre-invariant Audio Features for Style Analysis of Classical Music

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    Copyright: (c) 2014 Christof Weiß et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

    Glacier − Permafrost Interaction at a Thrust Moraine Complex in the Glacier Forefield Muragl, Swiss Alps

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    The internal structures of a moraine complex mostly provide information about the manner in which they develop and thus they can transmit details about several processes long after they have taken place. While the occurrence of glacier–permafrost interactions during the formation of large thrust moraine complexes at polar and subpolar glaciers as well as at marginal positions of former ice sheets has been well understood, their role in the formation of moraines on comparatively small alpine glaciers is still very poorly investigated. Therefore, the question arises as to whether evidence of former glacier–permafrost interactions can still be found in glacier forefields of small alpine glaciers and to what extent these differ from the processes in finer materials at larger polar or subpolar glaciers. To investigate this, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were carried out in the area of a presumed alpine thrust moraine complex in order to investigate internal moraine structures. The ERT data confirmed the presence of a massive ice core within the central and proximal parts of the moraine complex. Using GPR, linear internal structures were detected, which were interpreted as internal shear planes due to their extent and orientation. These shear planes lead to the assumption that the moraine complex is of glaciotectonic origin. Based on the detected internal structures and the high electrical resistivity values, it must also be assumed that the massive ice core is of sedimentary or polygenetic origin. The combined approach of the two methods enabled the authors of this study to detect different internal structures and to deduce a conceptual model of the thrust moraine formation

    Geophysical and Sedimentological Investigations of Peatlands for the Assessment of Lithology and Subsurface Water Pathways

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    Peatlands located on slopes (herein called slope bogs) are typical landscape units in the Hunsrueck, a low mountain range in Southwestern Germany. The pathways of the water feeding the slope bogs have not yet been documented and analyzed. The identification of the different mechanisms allowing these peatlands to originate and survive requires a better understanding of the subsurface lithology and hydrogeology. Hence, we applied a multi-method approach to two case study sites in order to characterize the subsurface lithology and to image the variable spatio-temporal hydrological conditions. The combination of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and an ERT-Monitoring and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), in conjunction with direct methods and data (borehole drilling and meteorological data), allowed us to gain deeper insights into the subsurface characteristics and dynamics of the peatlands and their catchment area. The precipitation influences the hydrology of the peatlands as well as the interflow in the subsurface. Especially, the geoelectrical monitoring data, in combination with the precipitation and temperature data, indicate that there are several forces driving the hydrology and hydrogeology of the peatlands. While the water content of the uppermost layers changes with the weather conditions, the bottom layer seems to be more stable and changes to a lesser extent. At the selected case study sites, small differences in subsurface properties can have a huge impact on the subsurface hydrogeology and the water paths. Based on the collected data, conceptual models have been deduced for the two case study sites

    Three‐dimensional investigation of an open‐ and a closed‐system Pingo in northwestern Canada

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    The present study presents three-dimensional investigations of a hydrostatic pingo in the Mackenzie Delta region and a hydraulic pingo in the Ogilvie Mountains and contributes to a better understanding about the internal structures of the two pingo types. A combined approach using quasi-three-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography, ground-penetrating radar and frost probing allowed a clear delineation of frozen and unfrozen areas in the subsurface. At the hydrostatic pingo a massive ice core as well as a surrounding talik could be detected, but the location of the ice core and the talik differs from previous published assumptions. In contrast to acknowledged theory, at our site the massive ice core is not located in the center of the pingo but at the western edge, whereas the eastern flank is underlain by a talik, which surrounds the massive ice core. At the hydraulic pingo, the expected internal structure could be confirmed and the pathway of upwelling water could also be detected. The combined approach of the applied methods represents the first known three-dimensional geoelectrical investigation of pingos and provides new insights into the internal structure and architecture of the two different pingo types. The chosen approach allows further conclusions on the formation of these permafrost-affected landforms

    Permafrost and Glaciers: Perspectives for the Earth and Planetary Sciences—Another Step Forward

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    "Permafrost and glaciers are the most important components of the cryosphere. Their mutual relationship has only recently become the subject of interdisciplinary research. The fact that most of the permafrost and glacial studies have been carried out separately is an obstacle to further consistent progress within this scientific field. Moreover, the progressive specialization of research in Earth sciences has led to increasing difficulties with the holistic view of the cryosphere in general." [...] (fragm.

    Multi-method soil moisture monitoring at two temperate forest stands in Germany

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    Many forests suffer increased drought stress due to climate change, particularly impacting Central Europe. However, our understanding considering drought stress and resulting tree mortality remains incomplete. For addressing this issue, fine-scale water balance assessment as well as robust and spatially integrating measures on large scales are necessary for forest ecosystem monitoring. The latter is particularly important to provide reliable data sets for verifying remote sensing and hydrological modelling products. Various traditional in-situ methods exist for assessing the water balance in forest ecosystems as for instance measuring the water content or matric potential. However, the spatial limitations of these methods have led to an increased importance of Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) in the last two decades whose measuring signal is integrated over a larger area. We equipped two forest monitoring plots with ECH2O probes, Tensiomark soil systems, and installed a CRNS station at one site to measure soil water content and matric potential at different soil depths and distances to trees from November 2020 till November 2023. The results indicate distinct temporal and spatial variations influenced by meteorological conditions and soil properties, but also forest characteristics. The year 2022 is identified as exceptionally dry, causing high drought stress at one of the forest sites. The comparison between CRNS and traditional methods reveals a strong correlation, highlighting CRNS' potential in forest monitoring as a promising tool for an area wide assessment of water availability in forest ecosystems. Our study further advocates for the need of tree species-specific thresholds to assess matric potential in relation to drought stress in order to better assess the impact of climate change on our forest ecosystems
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