The characteristic of a music cluster in Iceland

Þessi grein fjallar um þróun tónlistarlífs á Íslandi á undanförnum árum. Margir íslenskir tónlistarmenn hafa átt velgengi að fagna og skapað sér nafn á alþjóðlegum markaði. Stjórnvöld hafa stutt við þróunina á ýmsan hátt og þau hafa mikil áhrif á tónlistarlífið. Umsvifin í greininni benda til að þróunin undanfarin ár hafi ýtt undir myndun klasa í tónlist á Íslandi. Markmiðið með þessari grein er að rannsaka þróun tónlistarlífs á Íslandi út frá kenningum um klasa og samkeppnishæfni. Einnig er þróunin á Íslandi borin saman við þekkta tónlistarklasa erlendis. Byggt er á raundæmisrannsókn þar sem spurt er að hvaða marki megi líta á tónlist á Íslandi sem klasa og ef svo er á hvaða stigi klasaþróunar íslenskur tónlistarklasi kunni að vera. Einnig er spurt um hvaða áskoranir tónlistarklasinn kunni að standa frammi fyrir. Niðurstöður gefa til kynna skýrar vísbendingar um tónlistarklasa á Íslandi og að klasinn sé að færast af mótunarstigi yfir á þróunarstig. Í niðurstöðum felst hagnýtt gildi því varpað er ljósi á atriði og aðstæður sem geta ýtt undir frekari uppbyggingu á sterkum tónlistarklasa á Íslandi. Samhliða er tónlistarklasinn dæmi um klasa í litlu fámennu landi og niðurstöðurnar framlag til þekkingar á klasa í slíkum aðstæðum.Music as part of creative industries in Iceland has been on a positive growth path. Many musicians from Iceland have been succesful in establishing their name and brand internationally. The government has played a critical role in the growth of the music field. There are manifestations that provide support for the existence of a music cluster in Iceland. The purpose of this article is to study the music field from a cluster perspective and reflect on the development with reference to well known music clusters abroad. On the basis of a case study method and cluster assessment tools it is analysed to what extent it is possible to confirm the existence of a music cluster in Iceland. There are clear indications of a music cluster and it is concluded that the music cluster can be described as a potential cluster. The context of the cluster can also be seen as positive for further development but there are many challenges identified.Peer Reviewe

Heat pumps in subarctic areas: current status and benefits of use in Iceland

Heat pumps use the temperature difference between inside and outside areas to modify a refrigerant, either for heating or cooling. Doing so can lower the need for external heating energy for a household to some extent. The eventual impact depends on various factors, such as the external source for heating or cooling and the temperature difference. The use of heat pumps, and eventual benefits has not been studied in the context of subarctic areas, such as in Iceland. In Iceland, only remote areas do not have access to district heating from geothermal energy where households may, therefore, benefit from using heat pumps. It is the intent of this study to explore the observed benefits of using heat pumps in Iceland, both financially and energetically. This study further elaborates on incentives provided by the Icelandic government. Real data were gathered from the Icelandic energy authority for the analysis. It was found for the study database of 128 households that the annual electricity use was reduced from 37.8 to 26.7 kWh (an average 29.3% reduction) after installation of heat pumps. Large pumps (9.0–14.4 kW) and small pumps (5.0–9.0 kW) saved an average of 31.4 and 26.0% (95% confidence intervals), respectively. On average, households used approximately 26 MWh after installing a heat pump. When installing a small pump (5–9 kW), the mean annual saving (and 95% confidence intervals) was 10.6 ( ±± 2.7) MWh (approximately 26%). However, when installing a larger pump, mean annual savings were 11.3 ( ±± 1.6) MWh (Approximately 31%).Peer Reviewe

Drowning by Numbers. Evaluating Social Capacities

Impact and evaluation of research in the humanities has been the subject of several recent publications (e.g. Benneworth et al. 2016, Ochsner et al. 2016, Severinson 2017). A common theme is the need for a re-evaluation of how the humanities are evaluated, as well as for research on the effects of evaluation practices on the humanities (Ochsner et al. 2016, p. 9). Another important idea is that this re-evaluation should consider the nature of the public value of the humanities (Benneworth et al. 2016, especially ch. 7). The dominant model of research evaluation has as its focus societal economic benefits of research, a focus humanities scholars have mostly been uncomfortable with (Benneworth et al., ch. 2). One of the main tools of research evaluation, bibliometric analysis, is problematic – to say the least – for the humanities (Ochsner et al. 2016). As the policy and practice of research evaluations influences the way research is conducted (van Leeuwen 2016, Severinson 2017) there is a potential danger that the inherent value of the humanities will be eroded and their value to society diminished through evaluation. This problem will be addressed from two sides in this paper. The a theory of societal capacities in Benneworth et al. (2016) and virtue epistemology (particularly as developed by Linda Zagzebski)

Conditions for the Palladium-Catalysed Direct 2-Arylation of 3-Bromobenzo[b]thiophene Tolerant of the Benzothienyl Carbon-Bromine Bond

International audiencePhosphine-free palladium(II) acetate catalyst was found to promote the direct 2-arylation of 3-bromobenzo[b]thiophene without cleavage of the benzothienyl carbon-bromine bond, allowing the synthesis of 2-aryl-3-bromobenzo[b]thiophenes in only one step. The best results were generally obtained using a low loading of the palladium catalyst (0.5 mol%), quite low reaction temps. (80-120 °C) and short reaction times (0.5-2 h). The reaction proceeds with electron-deficient para-, meta- and ortho-substituted aryl bromides and also with heteroaryl bromides. The benzothienyl carbon-bromine bond has been profitably employed for further palladium-catalyzed functionalisations. This strategy allows the straightforward synthesis of 2,3-di(hetero)arylated benzo[b]thiophenes with two different (hetero)aryl units via sequential catalytic arylations

Method and phantom to study combined effects of in-plane (x,y) and z-axis resolution for 3D CT imaging.

Increasingly, the advent of multislice CT scanners, volume CT scanners, and total body spiral acquisition modes has led to the use of Multi Planar Reconstruction and 3D datasets. In considering 3D resolution properties of a CT system it is important to note that both the in-plane (x,y) and z-axis (slice thickness) influence the visual-ization and detection of objects within the scanned volume. This study investigates ways to consider both the in-plane resolution and the z-axis resolution in a single phantom wherein analytic or visualized analysis can yield information on these combined effects. A new phantom called the Wave Phantom is developed that can be used to sample the 3D resolution properties of a CT image, including in-plane (x,y) and z-axis information. The key development in this Wave Phantom is the incorporation of a z-axis aspect of a more traditional step (bar) resolution gauge phantom. The phantom can be examined visually wherein a cutoff level may be seen; and/or the analytic analysis of the various characteristics of the waveform profile by including amplitude, frequency, and slope (rate of climb) of the peaks, can be extracted from the Wave Pattern using mathematical analysis such as the Fourier transform. The combined effect of changes in in-plane resolution and z-axis (thickness), are shown, as well as the effect of changes in either in-plane resolu-tion, or z-axis thickness. Examples of visual images of the Wave pattern as well as the analytic characteristics of the various harmonics of a periodic Wave pattern resulting from changes in resolution filter and/or slice thickness, and position in the field of view are shown. The Wave Phantom offers a promising way to investigate 3D resolution results from combined effect of in-plane (x-y) and z-axis resolution as contrasted to the use of simple 2D resolution gauges that need to be used with separate measures of z-axis dependency, such as angled ramps. It offers both a visual pattern as well as a pattern amenable to analytic analysis using Fourier Transform methods, and is believed to offer an image quality test closer to the diagnostic task where the 2D image has the hidden third (z) axis effects

Gender effects on writing style in British English?

This study investigates the effect of gender on writing style in English. We asked to which extent male and female English writers use words and sentence structures in the same way. We collected 36 recent opinion articles in British English by male and female authors written on the same topic in matched pairs. We analyzed the token-to-type ratio, word length (number of letters), sentence length (number of words per sentence), sentence complexity (number of finite verbs or subclauses per sentence) and use of emotional (‘?’, ‘!’) versus other punctuation marks. Several textual parameters measured are correlated between male and female authors, which indicates an effect of topic. Unexpectedly, women used more subordinated clauses per sentence than men but no other significant effects of gender were found. We provisionally conclude that no gender-dependent instruction on English writing is needed in the foreign language curriculum. A tanulmány az angol nyelvű írásokban érvényesülő gender-hatást vizsgálja. Arra a kérdésre keressük a választ, hogy milyen mértékben hasonlóak az angol nyelven író női és férfi szerzők által használt szavak és mondatszerkezetek. 36 brit angol nyelvváltozatban készült, női és férfi szerzőktől származó, a közelmúltban megjelent cikket választottunk, amelyek párba állítva egyazon témáról fogalmaznak meg véleményt. Munkánk során elemeztük a szövegekben előforduló szókincs kiterjedését, a szavak terjedelmét (leütések száma), a mondatok terjedelmét (mondatonkénti szavak száma), a mondatok szerkezetét (tagmondatok vagy állítmányi szerepben használt igék száma), valamint az érzelmeket kifejező és egyéb írásjelek előfordulását. Az eredmények több szövegjellemző esetén a női és férfi írásokban egyezésre utalnak, amely a téma hatására hívja fel a figyelmet. Várakozásaink ellenére a női írók több alárendelő mondatszerkezetet alkalmaznak az írásokban mint a férfiak, azonban nemre vonatkozó egyéb szignifikáns eltérés nem azonosítható. Következtetésünk szerint az idegen nyelv oktatásában nemek szerint eltérő angol nyelvű írásfejlesztés nem szükséges

Gender effects on writing style in British English?

This study investigates the effect of gender on writing style in English. We asked to which extent male and female English writers use words and sentence structures in the same way. We collected 36 recent opinion articles in British English by male and female authors written on the same topic in matched pairs. We analyzed the token-to-type ratio, word length (number of letters), sentence length (number of words per sentence), sentence complexity (number of finite verbs or subclauses per sentence) and use of emotional (‘?’, ‘!’) versus other punctuation marks. Several textual parameters measured are correlated between male and female authors, which indicates an effect of topic. Unexpectedly, women used more subordinated clauses per sentence than men but no other significant effects of gender were found. We provisionally conclude that no gender-dependent instruction on English writing is needed in the foreign language curriculum. A tanulmány az angol nyelvű írásokban érvényesülő gender-hatást vizsgálja. Arra a kérdésre keressük a választ, hogy milyen mértékben hasonlóak az angol nyelven író női és férfi szerzők által használt szavak és mondatszerkezetek. 36 brit angol nyelvváltozatban készült, női és férfi szerzőktől származó, a közelmúltban megjelent cikket választottunk, amelyek párba állítva egyazon témáról fogalmaznak meg véleményt. Munkánk során elemeztük a szövegekben előforduló szókincs kiterjedését, a szavak terjedelmét (leütések száma), a mondatok terjedelmét (mondatonkénti szavak száma), a mondatok szerkezetét (tagmondatok vagy állítmányi szerepben használt igék száma), valamint az érzelmeket kifejező és egyéb írásjelek előfordulását. Az eredmények több szövegjellemző esetén a női és férfi írásokban egyezésre utalnak, amely a téma hatására hívja fel a figyelmet. Várakozásaink ellenére a női írók több alárendelő mondatszerkezetet alkalmaznak az írásokban mint a férfiak, azonban nemre vonatkozó egyéb szignifikáns eltérés nem azonosítható. Következtetésünk szerint az idegen nyelv oktatásában nemek szerint eltérő angol nyelvű írásfejlesztés nem szükséges