The FireBird Mission – A Scientific Mission for Earth Observation and Hot SpotDetection

More than 10 years ago the first specialized small satellite for hot spot recognition and fire observation was designed, built and operated by several DLR departments. This BIRD (Bi-spectral Infra Red Detection) satellite demonstrated the capability of fire monitoring from space by using a dedicated small satellite and sensor system. On the other hand it has shown that DLR is capable to manage nearly a complete space mission “in house”. The comparison of typical BIRD data with the well-known MODIS fire products led to the label “fire zoom” for BIRD data. It is due to the high geometric and radiometric resolution of BIRD fire products. Typically small fires with a diameter of 4m could be detected. The precise estimation of fire parameters was successfully shown without problems like false alarms. The success of BIRD opened the doors for next steps. The scientific DLR Earth observation mission “FireBird” will continue the fire monitoring topic by using two small satellites (TET-1, launched June 2012, BIROS launch planed 2014). The paper shall present this mission. It will finally be focused on possible interfaces for a desired worldwide international scientific cooperation within this running space mission

Tervise enesehinnang: hindamine, sotsiaalne variatiivsus ja seos suremusega

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone„Milline on Teie tervis üldiselt?” on küsitlusuuringutes sagedasti kõlav küsimus. See lihtne enesehinnangule tuginev terviseseisundi mõõdik on laialdaselt kasutusel ning tõendus varasematest uuringutest kinnitab instrumendi valiidsust rahvastiku terviseseisundi hindamisel ning edasiste tervisetulemite prognoosimisel. Rainer Reile doktoritöö analüüsis subjektiivse tervise hindamismehhanisme, tervise enesehinnangu aluseks olevaid tegureid ja nende sotsiaalset variatiivsust, ning seost edasise suremusega. Töös leiti, et tervise enesehinnangu mõjurid varieeruvad sõltuvalt tervise enesehinnangu tasemest: kui negatiivne hinnang seondus põhiliselt füüsilise ja vaimse tervise aspektidega, siis positiivne hinnang seondus ka demograafiliste, sotsiaalmajanduslike ja heaolu teguritega. Negatiivse tervise enesehinnangu korral prognoosisid edasist suremust haigustega seotud piirangud, positiivse tervise enesehinnangu korral sõltus suremusrisk demograafilistest, sotsiaalmajanduslikest ja tervisekäitumisega seotud teguritest. Halva tervise enesehinnanguga vastajatel oli ligi 40% suurem suremusrisk ligi 18-aastase jälgimisaja jooksul. Leid, et erinevalt eestlastest ei prognoosi tervise enesehinnang prognoosib edasise suremusriski mitte-eestlastel, viitab võimalikule sotsiaalsele variatiivsusele tervise hindamisel. Töö näitas, et tervise enesehinnang on tundlik mõõdik tervise hindamiseks makromajanduslike muutuste taustal – 2008. aastal alanud majanduskriis peatas eelneva tervise enesehinnangu olulise paranemise trendi kriisist tugevalt mõjutatud Eestis ja Leedus. Makromajanduslikud muutused avaldasid mõju ka tervise enesehinnangu sotsiaalsele varieeruvusele – kui majanduskasvuga seoses ebavõrdsus kasvas, siis majanduskriisi tingimustes ebavõrdsus pigem kahanes. Doktoritöö näitab, et tervise enesehinnang varieerub lisaks tervisega otseselt seotud teguritele ka demograafiliste, sotsiaalmajanduslike ning psühholoogiliste tegurite lõikes. Need tegurid mõjutavad nii terviseseisundit kui ka selle tõlgendamist ja hindamist tervise enesehinnangu kontekstis. Seega saab tervist subjektiivsete tervisemõõdikute kontekstis käsitleda eelkõige ettevaatlikku tõlgendust vajava sotsiaalse nähtusenaThe single question on individual’s self-rated health (SRH) –“How would you rate your health in general?”– has become a popular tool in survey research as its validity for assessing population health status and predicting mortality and morbidity outcomes has been consistently demonstrated. Rainer Reile’s dissertation analyzed the mechanisms underlying the subjective health evaluations, their social variations and associations between SRH and mortality. The findings support the existing evidence that SRH is a valid and responsive indicator of individual health that rests on a wide range of determinants that differ for negative and positive health assessments. The former is characterized mostly by the physical and psychological aspects whereas a wide range of demographic, socioeconomic and wellbeing-related factors contribute to the latter. Moreover, similar patterning of predictors of positive and negative health was also found for factors underpinning the mortality risk in an analysis stratified by SRH. Those with poor SRH had approximately 40% higher mortality during the 18-year follow-up period. SRH was found to predict subsequent mortality only among Estonians with social variations in health assessments being one of the plausible explanations. The dissertation studied SRH in the context of macroeconomic changes demonstrating the health effects of late-2000s economic recession that halted the previous trend of health improvement in Estonia and Lithuania. The reduction in existing health disparities during the recession indicates that rapid economic fluctuations may affect different socioeconomic groups disproportionately. SRH is influenced by a wide range of factors, not necessarily limited to those directly related to physical aspects of health. The social determinants affect health outcomes but are also the source of social variation in health assessments as they influence how health is conceptualized and evaluated. In this, health can be interpreted essentially as a social phenomenon that in the context of subjective health measures requires careful interpretatio

TÜ arstiteaduskonna aastapäeva konverentsi kokkuvõte

Eesti Arst 2017; 96(10):628–63

Space and demonstratives: an experiment with Estonian exophoric demonstratives

In recent years, the study of exophoric demonstratives has increased in Indo- European languages, but has received fairly little research attention in Estonian. The aim of the study is to verify by the means of a production experiment whether distance has an effect on the choice of Estonian exophoric demonstratives. Binomial mixed effects logistic regression analysis suggests that distance is the best predictor for the choice between demonstrative adverbs, but it has no effect on the choice between the demonstrative pronoun see ‘this’ and other referential devices, which can be explained by the lack of usage of the demonstrative pronoun too ‘that’. However, there also occurs unexpected usage of demonstrative adverbs that is best explained by other attributes of the referent and reference situation rather than simple spatial opposition. Thus, although the best predictor in demonstrative adverb choice proves to be distance, other attributes may play a fairly important role

ACTIVIST ORGANIZATIONS AND STRATEGIC UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES: AN EXPLORATION OF CODEPINK: WOMEN FOR PEACE

Ph.D.Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 201

Katsed demonstratiivpronoomenite ja demonstratiivadverbidega

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneDemonstratiivid – sõnad nagu see ja too ning siin ja seal – saavad oma tähenduse kontekstis. Maailma keeltes on ruumilises kontekstis ehk ruumis viitamisel peamiseks demonstratiivide valikut mõjutavaks teguriks peetud referendi kaugust kõnelejast. Eesti keele demonstratiivide kasutust on ruumilises kontekstis aga vähe käsitletud. Siinse doktoritöö eesmärgiks on uurida, kas eesti keeles mõjutavad demonstratiivide valikut peale kauguse ka teised tegurid. Lisaks vaadeldakse, kuidas nende tegurite mõju erineb eesti, vene ja soome keele demonstratiivide kasutusest ning kuidas on demonstratiivid seotud teiste viitevahendite (nt noomenifraaside ja personaalpronoomenite) kasutusega. Tööst selgub, et eesti keele demonstratiivide valikut mõjutavad referendi kaugus kõnelejast, referendi eristatavus ja kontrastiivne olukord. Mida kaugemal on referent, seda rohkem kasutatakse demonstratiive too ja seal, mida lähemal on referent, seda rohkem demonstratiive see ja siin. Referendi eristatavuse mõju ei avaldu mitte selles, kas kõneleja valib raskesti eristatavale referendile viidates demonstratiivi see või too, vaid selles, kuidas kasutatakse demonstratiivi seal. Kui referenti on keeruline märgata, alustatakse lauset demonstratiiviga seal, millele lisatakse seejärel täpsem referendi kirjeldus, nt sealt kolmesest rühmast kõige parempoolne klots. Kontrasti mõju ilmnemiseks peavad omavahel võrreldavad referendid aga asuma nii kõneleja kui üksteise suhtes kaugel. Kauguse ja kontrasti mõju osas sarnaneb eesti keel vene ja soome keelega, kuid kõik need keeled erinevad üksteisest teiste viitevahendite kasutamise poolest. Soome keeles eelistatakse demonstratiive, vene keeles noomenifraase ja personaalpronoomeneid. Eesti keel jääb viitevahendite kasutuse poolest nende kahe keele vahele. Doktoritööst järeldub, et eesti keeles mõjutab demonstratiivide valikut eelkõige kaugus. Teiste viitavahendite kasutust mõjutab aga demonstratiivide arv keeles. Mida rohkem on keeles demonstratiive, seda rohkem funktsioone nad täidavad ning seda vähem läheb vaja teisi viitevahendeid.Demonstratives, words like this and there, get their meaning from context. In spatial reference, i.e., indicating referents in physical space, the distance of the referent from the speaker has been considered the main factor that influences the choice of demonstratives in the world’s languages. In Estonian, however, the use of demonstratives in spatial context has had little research attention. The aim of this thesis is to study the factors that influence the choice of Estonian demonstratives in spatial reference and to explore how these factors differ in the use of Estonian, Russian and Finnish demonstratives. In addition, the study investigates how the use of demonstratives is linked to the use of other referential devices (e.g., bare NPs and personal pronouns). The findings suggest that the choice of Estonian demonstratives is influenced by the distance of the referent, the visual salience of the referent and the need for contrast. The farther the referent is, the more demonstratives too and seal are used, the closer the referent is, the more demonstratives, see and siin are used. The impact of visual salience is manifested in the use of the demonstrative adverb seal, i.e., when a distant referent is hard to detect for the addressee, the speaker starts the utterance with seal after which s/he adds a more detailed description of the referent. For the effects of contrast to occur, the referents have to be far from the speaker and from each other. In terms of distance and contrast effects, the results of Estonian, Russian and Finnish are similar, however these languages differ in their use of other referential devices. In Finnish, demonstratives are preferred, whereas Russian speakers tend to use personal pronouns and bare NPs. Estonian lies between these two languages in terms of its use of other referential devices. To conclude, from the tested factors distance has the strongest effect on the choice of Estonian demonstratives. The use of other referential devices is influenced by the number of demonstrative pronouns that a language has and the functions that these demonstratives fulfil.https://www.ester.ee/record=b522969

Religious as Artist: The Meshes of a Sempiternal Ambivalence

Louis Reile, a priest in the Society of Mary, is a member of the English faculty at St. Mary\u27s University, San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from St. Mary\u27s University and received his M.A. from Johns Hopkins University. He studied at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and attended the Institut Catholique de Paris. He has published several short stories and is the author of The Battle and Brother Louis, Running Giant, and Rafael. His translations and adaptations include What Is a Boy? and What Is a Girl? Father Reile is also a retreat master and a lecturer on modern religious life