Using RapidEye high spatial resolution imagery in mapping shallow coastal water benthic habitats

http://www.ester.ee/record=b448589

Gyvūnų kaulų tyrimai Estijoje

In Estonia, faunal remains have been an important part of archaeological material since the 19th century. During the 20th century, the interest in faunal history was rather volatile, but gained some stability during the 1990s. Since then, zooarchaeology in Estonia has developed substantially, focusing on a variety of topics. Together with methods from traditional zooarchaeology, interdisciplinary methods like the studies of ancient DNA and stable isotopes are increasingly used. However, despite the growing understanding of the importance of faunal remains in archaeological and historical research, there are still problems with collecting animal remains during the fieldwork and documenting and organising them. On the other hand, interest in scientific methods and destructive sampling of the osseous remains have become increasingly popular in science projects and international collaboration. In order to use osteological collections reasonably and ethically, proper systemisation is essential.In Estonia, there are two research centres for zooarchaeology, where scientific collections are administered – Tallinn University and the University of Tartu. Tallinn collections comprise material mostly from the northern part of the country, plus an extensive reference collection for fish has been developed there. In Tartu, mostly material from southern Estonia is managed, together with continuously expanding reference collection of mammals and birds. To improve the gathering and management of the osteological material in Estonia and reduce the shortage for storage space, a new central repository for osteological collections (both human and animal) was established in 2019. Concurrently, a new central database for the osteological data was created.In this paper, we introduce the zooarchaeological collections and some of the latest research topics in Estonia with an aim to broaden the understanding and potential of zooarchaeology in the Baltic region. Nuo XIX a. gyvūnų liekanos Estijoje tapo svarbia archeologinės medžiagos dalimi. XX a. susidomėjimas faunos istorija ir jos tyrimais labai įvairavo ir stabilumo įgavo paskutiniame to amžiaus dešimtmetyje. Tame dešimtmetyje zooarcheologiniai tyrimai Estijoje labai suaktyvėjo, jie imti plėtoti įvairiomis kryptimis. Pastaraisiais dešimtmečiais kartu su klasikine zooarcheologija daugėja įvairių tarpdalykinių, ypač DNR ir stabiliųjų izotopų, tyrimų. Tačiau, nors vis geriau suprantama faunos liekanų svarba archeologiniuose ir istoriniuose tyrimuose, lauko tyrimų metu gyvūnų kaulai dar ne visada renkami, kyla jų fiksavimo ir dokumentavimo problemų. Be to, atsiranda naujų iššūkių. Pastaruoju metu itin padidėjo gyvūnų kaulų poreikis, jie naudojami įvairiuose moksliniuose tyrimuose, kurie dažnai yra destruktyvūs. Todėl būtina atsakingai ir etiškai naudoti osteologinę kolekciją, o tam reikia tinkamai ją tvarkyti ir valdyti.Estijoje yra du zooarcheologijos tyrimų centrai, kuriuose kaupiamos ir tvarkomos tyrimų kolekcijos, – Talino universitetas ir Tartu universitetas. Taline saugoma daugiausia šiaurinėje šalies dalyje rasta zooarcheologinė medžiaga, čia sukaupta ir didelė palyginamoji žuvų kolekcija. Tartu universitete saugomos daugiausia pietinėje šalies dalyje surinktos faunos liekanos, taip pat čia plečiama palyginamoji žinduolių ir paukščių skeletų kolekcija. Siekiant pagerinti osteologinės medžiagos rinkimą, saugojimą ir administravimą bei padidinti saugyklų plotą, 2019 m. buvo įkurta ir nauja, centrinė osteologinės kolekcijos saugykla, kurioje saugomi žmonių palaikai ir gyvūnų kaulai. Tuo pat metu yra kuriama ir nauja osteologinės medžiagos duomenų bazė.Šioje publikacijoje supažindinsime su Estijos zooarcheologinės medžiagos kolekcija ir pastaruoju metu vykdomais tyrimais. Taip bandysime praplėsti ir supratimą apie zooarcheologinės medžiagos potencialą bei svarbą Baltijos regione

Muutused merepõhja taimestiku katvuses Landsati piltide põhjal

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2655760~S1*es

Financial Times ja The Economist Eestist 2008–2009

Estonia in Financial Times and The Economist in 2008–2009 This master’s thesis analyses the coverage of Estonia in two major international newspapers. The research assignment focused on the construction of Estonia in international media during the years of economic crisis to determine if and how Estonian international success story had transformed. Financial Times and The Economist were selected for this assignment as two quality journalistic periodicals with global audience and focus on the European affairs. One of the main theoretical concepts used is transition society, which marks the process of societal change towards a certain endpoint. In the case of Estonia, transition society covers the structural transformation of different aspects of Estonian society during the shift from a communist/soviet society to a fully operating capitalist democratic western state, which has been thoroughly conceptualised by Lauristin et al (1997). The word western associates with the dimensions of cultural transition – Estonia is culturally a western country, as Huntingon (1999) has described. But in the core of Estonian transition lies the economic dimension, which has been the dominating indicator of Estonian transition processes. Kennedy (2002) has shown how Estonian economic reforms during the 1990-s constructed the Estonian success-story – Estonia was an ideal case of transformation to a free-market capitalist country modelled by international institutions like the World Bank. Ekecrantz’s (2004) analysis of the discursive construction of nation in the media with the example of mapping discourses of Estonia in Swedish media provided a useful research model. Ekecrantz’s research also showed how the Estonia has been normalised in western media through economic relations, while in other domains (e.g. culturally) Estonia has remained the representation of easterness or otherness. The empirical data included 345 articles mentioning Estonia, that were analysed with three methods, providing different levels of analysis. Content analysis showed the main dynamics of the texts; combined analysis (qualitative analysis with quantitative elements) supplied the data about the subjects covered in the texts; and discourse analysis presented the macrostructures in the texts, i.e the dominating logical patterns how Estonia was constructed. Three periods were drawn up from the two-year span of research material. The first period, preceding the outbreak of global financial and economic crisis in September 2008, dominant subject area in articles concerning Estonia was politics. Main events contributing to the coverage included visa row between USA, European Comission, new EU member states like Estonia and old member states; NATO summit in Bucharest, where Ukraine and Georgia were denied Membership Action Plan because of Russian protest (which Estonia condemned); Georgia-Russia armed conflict in August, after which Estonia pushed for a harder reaction and sanctions towards Russia by the EU. The armed conflict in Georgia marked a shift in Estonian security discourse. The danger of real Russian armed aggression reappeared in the Estonian security discourse, which had been “demilitarised” previously. This also brought along NATO contingency planning for the Baltics. In this first period, the problems in Estonian economy (big current account deficit, extensive lending in foreign currency, gap between wage rises and productivity gains) were laid out, but were not emphasized like in the next periods. Second period was marked with the disruption of world economic crisis as Lehman Brothers bank collapsed in USA. Huge instability followed across the globe, the main “marker events” concerning Estonia or giving comparison to Estonia were the collapse of Icelandic economy and the nationalisation of Latvian Parex Bank in autumn 2008. These events comprised the pattern against which Estonian economic outlook was compared. In this period, Estonia transformed into a symbol of crisis-ridden country, suffering alongside Latvia the biggest fall in GDP and increasing unemployment. The discourse of Estonian troubles constructed the “danger from Estonia” or “dangerous Estonia” which basically had two meanings. Firstly, possible devaluation of Estonian currency kroon (due to very large-scale contraction of economy, preceding devaluation in the neighbouring Latvia or the retreat of major investors) would have caused serious damage to Scandinavian finance sector and whole Scandinavian economy, which was heavily exposed to Estonia. Secondly, Estonian devaluation would have caused a wave of collapses or devaluations in the Central and Eastern Europe, as other countries would have needed to regain competitiveness. Estonia was portrayed as a contagious area that could affect others in a negative manner. The end of the second period was placed in June 2009, when a very high international pressure formed concerning the devaluation of Latvian lat and then dropped off. The third period, from June 2009 to the end of the year, was marked with some minor rises in attention paid to Estonia. The majority of coverage dealt with the adaptation of Estonian society to the crisis as the government had chosen the way of “internal devaluation” or severe austerity programme in public finances. Estonia dramatically reduced its public spending over time in a successful manner, which led to positive and astonishing articles. Specific discursive pattern emerged, as Estonia was characterized as “hardened under communist rule”. This pattern was popular in explaining how the government maintained its legitimacy after draconian cuts. Although a certain goal and a bonus was advertised in exchange for this suffering – namely the fulfilling of Maastricht criteria and joining the eurozone – the Estonian society stayed stabilised and consolidated because it had a collective experience of societal change during the collapse of Soviet Union and transition in 1990-ies. This gave a basis of comparison for suffering and made this crisis much easier to bare, the two papers suggested. As a conclusion, the research showed that Financial Times as well as The Economist establish Estonia as an implicit part of Europe. It is important to devote energy and attention to mediating news about Estonia. The years of economic crisis and the exhaustion of economic model that fuelled growth in Estonia marked an important shift in the way Estonia was portrayed internationally. While the economic logic had underpinned the Estonian success story during the transition in the 1990-ies, the same logic now created the picture of dangerous and contagious Estonia. Two major international publications consider Estonia as a nation, whose problems are not isolated but matter beyond borders. This means, that the challenge in finding a sustainable model for Estonia’s future development is not only a question for the country itself, but also a detail in the development of Europe.http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2510233~S1*es

Õppevahend: tööandja bränd ja selle loomine

The economic recession of the recent years has createad a quite unique trend in the Estonian labour market. Side by side with significant unemployment there is an almost similarly significant demand for labour force. Although unemployment has reached record heights, some parts of the economy wrestle with shortage of qualified labour force. If the demand for qualified employees is much higher than supply, employers are bound to find new ways to increase their attractiveness in labour market. Employers have a number of ways to increase their competitiveness in the eyes of potential employees while also valuing current employees. This master thesis is presented in the form of practical handbook to help these employers, who need to stand out from the competition, keep their current staff satisfied and recruit new people by means of creating employer brand. This material aims to open the concept of employer branding and instruct the reader in creating this brand. At first, the importance of the employer brand is explained through the context of labour market changes in micro and macro level. First chapter details the supply and demand of skilled labour in labour market and on the organisational level. In addition, this chapter highlights the most important trends that organisations need to pay attention to in order to guarantee excellent human resources. Second chapter lays out the basics of brand and branding. This is followed by a closer look at the employer brand, its components, uses, goals, effects etc. As it turns out, employer branding does not work as an only external, temporary or illusive measure. Employer brand has to be managed, systematic and continuous, embracing both current and prospective employees. Just as well, employer brand cannot rely only on symbols, values or one-timeactions. For a successful employer brand an organisation needs attractive salary policy, possibilities for self-development, organisational culture that values individual, relationships that are based on respect etc. This first, more theoretical part of the handbook is followed by the second part, which instructs on the creation of the employer brand in five stages. Every stage corresponds to a chapter in the second part. Third chapter outlines the preliminary actions of the branding in the first stage. These include evaluation of the need, assembling the branding workgroup and blueprinting the brand project. Two practical tools are introduced to evaluate organisational need of employer brand. If found to be necessary, a workgroup must be called together that will start working according to the brand project blueprint. This consists of different guidelines and directives, organising the work of the team, setting up subtasks and steps, and specifying core concepts of the brand (target groups and goals). Brand project blueprint is a living document that will be updated and changed on-the-go in all the following stages. Next, the second stage is introduced, which is a research-oriented audit. Its aim is to concentrate information from different sources that are needed in later stages to specify brand identity, action-plan, communication strategy etc. Different approaches and methods are welcomed in audit-stage, e.g. interview, questionnaire, document analysis. While conducting the audit, all brand target groups as well as appropriate employees inside the organisation should be interviewed. This results in an audit document. Fifth chapter or the third stage covers the employer brand identity elements: employer value proposition, slogan and motivational package. Employer brand proposition is the combination of material and immaterial benefits and properties of organisational culture that appear attractive to potential employees, separate this particular employer from others, help motivate its current employees and increase their loyalty. Slogan carries the core idea of employer and helps stand out. Motivational package is the tangible result of the employer brand. It should be as differentiated as possible, and the “cafeteria plan” is the most flexible solution for all target groups. The creation of the brand continues in the next stage, which concentrates on communication. This sixth chapter helps compile communication strategy and launch employer brand. The brand must be introduced to the current employees at first and only after general approval from them may the external communication campaign start. Seventh chapter concentrates on the last stage of the creation of the employer brand, which consists of closing the project and post-project activities. Before closing the project, team needs to evaluate the achievement of preliminary goals as well as overall conduct of the project. When the project is closed, team hands the remaining branding-related activities and tasks over to the main organisation. It is vital, that post-project activities will be kept alive after the project is finished. In best case, they will become an inseparable part of the daily routine for the appropriate staff in the main organisation. Every chapter in the second part, i.e. every stage is supplied with additional exercises for studying individually and in team. Individual exercises are made to direct the reader to relevant sources of information and touch on the main questions of each stage. Teamwork exercises can be used as measures of active study in seminars or collective homework.http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2568319~S1*es

Changes in the exploitation and consumption of seafood vs freshwater resources in medieval and early modern Estonia

This paper focuses on evaluating the changing role of seafood imports in comparison with freshwater resources in medieval and early modern Estonia, based on zooarchaeological material and provenance analyses. A secondary aim was to find evidence of the early stages of practicing aquaculture in Estonia. The work presents the results of taxonomic and morphological analyses of the zooarchaeological material of aquatic animals, including marine and freshwater vertebrates (fish, marine mammals) and invertebrates (shellfish). These results were combined with additional evidence gained from previously published stable isotope data from the bone collagen of fish and marine mammals, allowing us to identify and investigate local and foreign resources among the medieval and early modern fish populations in Estonia. Our results show that herring and cod were the most exploited marine species during this period; however, freshwater species dominated at both coastal and inland sites. Compared to earlier periods, the remains of seals disappear almost completely from the zooarchaeological record, whereas those of oyster shells increase. Stable isotope analyses revealed the diverse habitats of consumed fish: from the Atlantic to the eastern Baltic, and from inland rivers to shallow coastal waters. Not much evidence was found of commonly farmed fish in the Estonian archaeological material

Eesti kajastus välismeedias 2004.-2005. aasta Eesti Päevalehe ja Postimehe rubriikide „Teised meist” põhjal

Hans Lõugas’ bachelor’s thesis Reflection of Estonia in Foreign Media in 2004 and 2005 Based on Eesti Päevaleht’s and Postimees’ Sections “Teised meist” (Others about us) aims to throw light on two questions: (1) how Estonia was reflected in foreign media during these two important years, and (2) how this reflection is presented to readers of two Estonian national dailies. It can be concluded, that Estonia’s reflection in foreign media is diverse. News are presented on the one hand from close countries like Finland (but not other neighbouring Baltic countries), on the other hand from big and globally influential ones like Germany, Great Britain and USA. This is still limited by two factors: firstly, what languages are spoken in the newsrooms of the papers that present the foreign media, secondly, which articles are more easily attainable for the editors. The texts published during the two years indicate integration to Europe, in the political as well as the cultural sphere because Estonia is attractive in the region as a new member of the European Union. Discourse reflects different modalities in foreign news, because Estonia’s groundbreaking achievements in tax policy and information technology are presented side by side with deep social problems and conflicts in international relations. At first some theoretical and empirical background about the topic is given. Peeter Vihalemm has rooted the conceptions of social space and the index of social proximity that help to characterize Estonia’s social relations with other countries. This is important as this paper’s emphasis is on the years 2004 and 2005 when Estonia joined the European Union. Furthermore, Jan Ekecrantz’ work about Swedish media is presented. Ekecrantz has analyzed the representation of the Other in Swedish newspapers and shows some common conceptions of Estonia as the Other. The work conducted by the author involves three research methods. To begin with, quantitative content analysis gave a general overview of the section “Teised meist”. This method allowed for the analysis of 800 texts published in 2004 and 2005. Secondly, qualitative analysis gave an insight into the meanings represented in the texts. Finally, an interview with Eesti Päevaleht’s editor Kaarel Tarand threw light on the newsroom work process and how the texts to be translated were selected from foreign media.http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2114262~S1*es

East meets west in the 6th millennium: Mesolithic osseous tools and art from Sise on the Latvian seaboard

A collection of 141 bone and antler tools and debitage pieces recovered from the River Užava at the village of Sise constitutes the largest Mesolithic osseous assemblage in western Latvia. Radiocarbon dating of 12 pieces suggests that most of this collection dates from the 6th millennium calBC. We present a general analysis, highlighting typical and unique tool forms, ornamented and sculpted pieces, and assess the corpus in a wider geographical context. Predominant in this rich and diverse collection are heavy duty antler tools: various forms of adzes, axes and hammers as well as sleeves, made either from shed antler or antler of hunted animals. They include two pieces classifiable as T-axes. Spear- and arrowheads as well as daggers are also present, Along with chisels, wedges, awls and other tools. Artistic representations include five sculpted and engraved objects. The heavy duty red deer antler tools have parallels in the region south of the Baltic Sea, whereas the bone projectile forms are familiar from Kunda and Narva Culture sites of the East Baltic; the closest similarity is with osseous assemblages from coastal western Ļithuania.“People in a dynamic landscape: tracing the biography of Latvia’s sandy coastal belt”, lzp-2018/1-0171; NERC/ ORADS grant NF/2017/1/4 Latvian Council of Science, lzp-2018/1-0171 NERC, NF/2017/1/