Introduction: Semiotics and history revisited

The introductory article proposes to offer a general frame for the special issue, discussing the emergence of semiotics of history as a new discipline or approach in the humanities. It presents an overview on the attempts of joining the history and semiotics in the Western world since the early 1980s, with a special focus on the United States, and examines the contribution of the Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics to the semiotic study of history, paying the main attention to the work of Juri Lotman and Boris Uspenskij. Finally, a survey of the articles that make up the special issue dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Boris Uspenskij is presented

Ajalugu, mälu ja mäluajalugu: uutest suundadest kollektiivse mälu uuringutes [Abstract: History, memory and mnemohistory: new trends in collective memory studies]

Keywords: collective memory, cultural memory, memory studies, mnemohistory. This article outlines some recent achievements and new perspectives in contemporary memory studies. It first gives an overview of the recent handbooks and anthologies of memory studies, which mark the emergence of a kind of meta-memory research and testify to the institutionalization of the young discipline. More precisely, these three anthologies are discussed: “Theories of memory: a reader” (2007), ed. by Michael Rossington and Anne Whitehead; “Memory: an anthology” (2008), ed. by Harriet Harvey Wood and A. S. Byatt; “The collective memory reader” (2011), ed. by Jeffrey K. Olick, Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi and Daniel Levy; as well as three recent handbooks: “Cultural memory studies: an international and interdisciplinary handbook (2008), ed. by Astrid Erll and Ansgar Nünning; “Gedächtnis und Erinnerung: ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch” (2010) ed. by Christian Gudehus, Ariane Eichenberg and Harald Welzer; “Memory: histories, theories, debates” (2010), ed. by Susannah Radstone and Bill Schwartz. Secondly, the article discusses the emergence of cultural memory studies, one of the most fruitful and promising trends in the collective memory studies of the last decade. Contemporary memory studies are rooted in sociology, particularly the works of Maurice Halbwachs; however, it seems that over the last decade, memory studies have been dominated by a ‘cultural turn’, with the more innovative and attractive ideas originating from cultural theorists and cultural historians. The most important shapers of this turn have most probably been the German scholars, Aleida and Jan Assmann, coming from English studies and Egyptology, respectively, who in the 1990s worked out a new influential model of analysis for memory studies, centered on the concept of ‘cultural memory’. Next to the Assmanns, the recent publications of Astrid Erll (“Memory in culture”, 2011) and Ann Rigney (“The afterlives of Walter Scott: memory on the move”, 2012) also are discussed, concluding that contemporary cultural memory studies stress primarily the dynamics, intermediality, and performativity of remembering. And finally, the article addresses the old debate on the relationship of history and memory, in order to propose an alternative conceptual framework for it and demonstrate the perspectives opened by a new avenue of research, mnemohistory. In the mnemohistorical perspective, the key question of historical research is not about the original significance of past events, but rather about how these events emerge in specific instances and are then translated over time, and about their everyday actualization and propagation. Mnemohistory enables the historian – better than before – to encompass the two levels he or she is simultaneously working on: the historicization of the phenomenon of the past, and the historicization of their own work. To conclude with, the article argues that the proliferation of memory studies in particular and the social ‘memory boom’ in general can be regarded as symptomatic of a much more general epistemological shift, the emergence of a new, presentist regime of historicity (new ways of articulating the categories of the past, the present and the future). A presentist regime of historicity implies a new mode of understanding time, an abandoning of the linear, causal and homogeneous conception of time characteristic of the previous, modernist regime of historicity. It has made possible a shift of the historian’s gaze so that the past no longer appears as something final and irreversible but persists in many ways in the present. It is plausible that these developments in general, as well as the meteoric rise of the concept of memory in particular, have irreversibly changed both the nature and outlook of history writing. Marek Tamm (b. 1973) is Associate Professor of Cultural History, Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University

Humanities: State and prospects

Humanities: State and prospect

Forest owners association representatives views on the private forestry support system

Bakalaureusetöö Metsanduse õppekavalBakalaureusetöö eesmärk on selgitada metsaühistute spetsialistide vaateid erametsanduse tugisüsteemi toimimise ning selle arenguvajaduse kohta. Eesmärgi täitmiseks viidi läbi kaheksa pool-struktureeritud intervjuud erinevate metsaühistute spetsialistidega. Kõik intervjuud lindistati metsaühistu spetsialistide nõusolekul ning iga intervjuu kohta tehti eraldi transkriptsioonid MS Word programmis. Intervjuus olevad küsimused jagunesid peamiselt kaheks valdkonnaks. Esimeses pooles olid küsimused seotud metsaühistu toimimisega ning teises pooles erametsanduse tugisüsteemiga. Analüüsist selgus, et enamuse arvates on Eesti erametsasektor üsna perspektiivikas metsaomanikke ja nende vajadusi koondav kogum. Metsaühistu arengusse usuvad kõik, soovides laiendada hallatavat metsamaa pindala ning liikmete arvu. Tugisüsteemi optimaalsuses kahtleb üle kolmandiku vastanutest. Probleemideks tuuakse välja väikeste metsaühistute ja metsaomanike suretamine ning mitte toetamine. Tugisüsteemis positiivne on metsaomanike aktiivsus astuda metsaühistutesse, sealhulgas metsaühistute enda hea majandamise ning nõustamisteenuse osutamine.The aim of the bachelor thesis is to investigate the views of forest owner association specialists on the functioning of the support system for private forestry and its development needs. To do this, eight semi-structured interviews were carried out with different association specialists. All interviews were recorded with the permit of the association specialists and then transcribed in MS Word. The questions touched to broad areas. In the first part of the interview, questions related to the functioning of the association were asked. In the second part, also questions related to the support system were asked. From the analysis, it became clear that the majority of the interviewees considered the Estonian private forestry sector quite potential as a complex system of forest owners and their needs. The interviewees believe in the development of forest owner associations, they wish to expand the forest area and the number of members. However, more than one third of the respondents questioned the optimality of the support system. Highlighted problems include the eradication of small forest owner associations and forest owners and the failure in supporting them. Within the support system, the active joining of forest owners with associations is considered positive, including the good management by the associations and the provision of advisory services

Who knows where the time goes?

In this interview Marek Tamm asks questions concerning some of the main developments in Chris Lorenz' thinking about history over the last 25 years. The following topics are discussed: the necessity and function of theory in history, historical theory of Frank Ankersmit and Hayden White, relations between objectivism and relativism, between theories and facts, possibilities of truth and objectivity in history, perspectives of a scientific historiography, the change of temporal and spatial categories in contemporary historiography, distinctions between past, present and future, criticism of national history, prospects of comparative history and politics of time in the discipline of contemporary history

The Transformation of Historical Time: Processual and Evental Temporalities

Simon ZB. The Transformation of Historical Time: Processual and Evental Temporalities . In: Tamm M, Olivier L, eds. Rethinking Historical Time. New Approaches to Presentism. London: Bloomsbury; 2019: 71-84

Eesti eelkooliealiste laste hõlmatus immuniseerimiskava vaktsiinidega 2010. aasta sünnikohordi põhjal Eesti Haigekassa raviarvete alusel

Taust, eesmärk. Eestis puudub seni ülevaade, kui paljude lastega viiakse läbi kõik immuniseerimiskavas ette nähtud plaanilised vaktsineerimised. Uurimuse eesmärk oli anda ülevaade, kui suurel osal eelkooliealistest lastest on Eesti Haigekassa raviarvete alusel kõik immuniseerimiskavas ette nähtud vaktsineerimised tehtud. Metoodika. Analüüsiti Eesti Haigekassale perearstide ja eriarstide esitatud raviarveid (n = 1 091 275) kõigi 2010. aastal sündinud laste kohta (n = 16 464), kes Eestis perioodil 2010–2018 tervishoiuteenuseid tarbisid. Hinnati immuniseerimiskavas toodud vaktsineerimistega hõlmatust 3- ja 8aastaste laste seas. Tulemused, järeldused. 3aastaseks saanud lastest läbis raviarvete alusel kõik sellele vanusele immuniseerimiskavas ette nähtud vaktsineerimised 68,9%, osaliselt vaktsineeriti 24,4% ning vaktsineerimata oli 6,7%. 8aastastest olid kõik vaktsiinid manustatud 49,5%-le lastest, osaliselt 43,9%-le ja vaktsineerimata oli 6,5%. Seega on vaktsineerimisega hõlmatus kogu immuniseerimiskava järgi Eestis väiksem, kui üksikute vaktsiinikomponentidega hõlmatuse põhjal võiks arvata. Kõige sagedamini puudusid raviarved DTPa-IPV (DTPa – difteeria, teetanuse ja atsellulaarse läkaköha vaktsiin, IPV – inaktiveeritud poliomüeliidi vaktsiin) teise revaktsineerimise kohta (vaktsineerimine 6–7 aasta vanuses)

Structure Preserving Parallel Algorithms for Solving the Bethe-Salpeter Eigenvalue Problem

The Bethe-Salpeter eigenvalue problem is a dense structured eigenvalue problem arising from discretized Bethe-Salpeter equation in the context of computing exciton energies and states. A computational challenge is that at least half of the eigenvalues and the associated eigenvectors are desired in practice. We establish the equivalence between Bethe-Salpeter eigenvalue problems and real Hamiltonian eigenvalue problems. Based on theoretical analysis, structure preserving algorithms for a class of Bethe-Salpeter eigenvalue problems are proposed. We also show that for this class of problems all eigenvalues obtained from the Tamm-Dancoff approximation are overestimated. In order to solve large scale problems of practical interest, we discuss parallel implementations of our algorithms targeting distributed memory systems. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of our algorithms

Hariduse rahulolu mõõtmine: kontseptsioon, mõõtevahendi kirjeldus ja küsimustikud

Koostatud hariduse rahulolu mõõtmise pakett on mõeldud laiahaardeliseks Eesti haridussüsteemi rahulolu mõõtmiseks, hõlmates kõiki seotud osapooli (õpilased, õpetajad, lapsevanemad, vilistlased, tööandjad) ja haridusastmeid (alusharidus, põhikool, gümnaasium, kõrg- ja kutseõppeasutused, täiskasvanuharidus). Materjal koosneb kolmest uuringuaruandest: teoreetiline üldise kontseptsiooni ja vahendite kirjeldus, rahulolu mõõtevahendite rakendamise kirjeldus erinevates sihtrühmades ning rahulolu mõõtmise küsimustikud kõigi sihtrühmade jaoks