Self-description and phatic function in organisation culture: the case of Ouishare

https://www.ester.ee/record=b5260546*es

Estonian Caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera). An annotated checklist

Achecklist of 190 species of Estonian caddisflies is compiled based on literature and voucher material in collections at Estonian University of Life Sciences. 31 species are listed first time for the country while 159 taxa were referred to in literature. Two taxa are rejected as possible misidentifications (Diplectrona felix and Molanna submarginalis). 25 species are listed in Estonian Red Data book. Geographical distribution of Trichoptera both in Estonia and along the east shore of Baltic Sea is reviewed in brief

Developing cloud-based web application for measuring and improving production efficiency using Evocon OÜ as an example

Käesoleva töö raames valmib veebiteenus, mille abil on võimalik tootmisettevõtetes mõõta ning visualiseerida tootmistõhusust ning saada sisendit tootmisprotsesside parendamiseks. Tootmisettevõtete tootlikkuse tõstmine läbi protsesside parendamise on tänapäevases tiheneva konkurentsiga maailmas järjest olulisem. Töö alguses analüüsitakse tootlikkuse mõõtmise teooriat ning mõõtmise olukorda Eestis. Töö teises pooles kirjeldatakse arendatava pilveteenuse arhitektuuri, riistvara ja tarkvara loomise projekti ning põhjendatakse tehtud valikuid. Töö lõpus analüüsitakse loodud süsteemi vastavust nõuetele ning kirjeldatakse tekkinud probleeme

The expected AI as a sociocultural construct and its impact on the discourse on technology

The thesis introduces and criticizes the discourse on technology, with a specific reference to the concept of AI. The discourse on AI is particularly saturated with reified metaphors which drive connotations and delimit understandings of technology in society. To better analyse the discourse on AI, the thesis proposes the concept of “Expected AI”, a composite signifier filled with historical and sociocultural connotations, and numerous referent objects. Relying on cultural semiotics, science and technology studies, and a diverse selection of heuristic concepts, the thesis delves beneath the surface of AI discourse and demonstrates the hidden political, social, cultural, and ecological dangers of AI. The entanglement of the discourse(s) with (science) fiction, folklore, myth, and religion impacts how AI is perceived and received, as well as the expectations to AI-enabled technologies now and in the future. The thesis also proposes a more ethical and comprehensive ontological model for AI systems. The model describes AI systems as complex figurations, considering their socio-material organisation, global economic-material becoming, and impact on the environment, social institutions, and the semiosphere. The dissertation argues that AI should be understood not just as an object or sociotechnical system, but as its entire product chain encompassing people and cultures, as well as the used resources and impact (both material-ecological and semiotic) on a planetary scale

The semiotic functioning of synthetic media

The interpretation of many texts in the everyday world is concerned with their truth value in relation to the reality around us. The recent publication experiments with computer-generated texts have shown that the distinction between true and false, or reality and fiction, is not always clear from the text itself. Essentially, in today’s media space, one may encounter texts, videos or images that deceive the reader by displaying nonsensical content or nonexistent events, while nevertheless appearing as genuine human-produced messages. This article outlines certain problems with artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, and frames the issue as a problem of recognising its proper referential reality. Examples include generative texts, deepfakes and their functioning in contemporary culture. The article makes use of the concepts of mimicry and nonsense to reveal the elements and counterparts in the communicative processes involving generated media

Development of Electromobility in Estonia

Bakalaureusetöö Tehnika ja tehnoloogia õppekavalEestis loodi 2012. aastal tollal maailmas esimene kogu riiki kattev elektriautode laadimisvõrgustik ja tutvustus- ning toetusskeem. See projekt aga lõppes ja praeguseks on Eesti hakanud sellel alal maha jääma. Käesoleva töö eesmärk on identifitseerida takistused edasisel arengul ja vaadata kuidas neist üle saada. Töö on kaudselt mõeldud jätkuks 2012. aastal Maaülikoolis tehtud elektriautode teemalistele töödele, mis vaatlesid tol ajal uut nähtust veidi täpsemalt. Kokkuvõtteks on suurim takistus elektriautode levikul endiselt nende ostuhind, kuid 6 aastat hiljem hakkavad välja kujunema mõned muud faktorid, mis vajavad tegelemist. Meie laadimisvõrku on vaja uuendada ja linnades ka laiendada. Tuleb tegeleda uue ohuga, milleks on elektrioht ja inimkonda tuleb koolitada sellega toime tulema samamoodi nagu me põlevkütustega toime tuleme. Arvutuslikus osas vaadeldakse elektriautode laadimisvõimalust päikeseenergiaga ja selle tasuvust ning leitakse, et lühemas perspektiivis on siiski odavam suurelt elektritootjalt osta. Tööd saaks jätkata uurides sügavamalt kas alternatiivse elektritootmise võimalusi elektriautode laadimiseks või elektriautode iselaadimiseks, leidmaks punkti, kust alates see tasuvaks muutub.In 2012, a first in the world country-wide charging network for electric cars was built in Estonia together with introduction and subsidation measures for electric cars. After the project finished, the development stopped and by now, Estonia is not keeping up with the rest of the world anymore. The purpose of the current work is to identify the roadblocks on the way of development and see how to overcome them. The paper is a follow-up to former works made in 2012 introducing electric cars, which introduced different aspects of electric cars more deeply. It comes out, that the price of the cars is still the biggest factor that keeps purchasers away, but 6 years later there are other factors arising we need to take care of. For example we already have to start refreshing our charging network and we need to educate people on the new electric and fire hazards related to electric cars, like we were familiarised 100 years ago with fire hazards related to liquid fuels. The bigger settlements also need more charging stations. It is also calculated whether it pays off to buy a solar charging station to supply an electric car, but it comes out, that for short term purposes it is still cheaper to buy electricity from a big provider, or a big solar array is needed. The work could be expanded by researching for the point of payoff to supply ones own electric car with renewable energy or for the point where the car can charge itself

Sociocommunicative functions of a generative text: the case of GPT-3

Recently, there have been significant advances in the development of language-transformer models that enable statistical analysis of co-occurring words (word prediction) and text generation. One example is the Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) by OpenAI, which was used to generate an opinion article (op-ed) published in “The Guardian” in Septem- ber 2020. The publication and reception of the op-ed highlights the difficulty for human readers to differentiate a machine-produced text; it also calls attention to the challenge of perceiving such a text as a synthetic text even when its origins are made explicit. This article offers a critical examination of the process behind the generation and the interpretation of a synthetic text, framing it as an example of generative literature. Lotman’s concept of the text and its sociocommunicative functions offers a framework for understanding how and why the output of a natural language generator may be interpreted as a (human-written) text. This article also inquires whether the generative output can be called a text in a Lotmanian sense and how the output is textualized (attributed meaning) in the process of interpretation

Two New Species of the Genus Biston (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae) from Central Asia

Описан Biston pljushtschi sp. n. из Гиссарского хребта, Таджикистан; вид относительно изолирован в группе видов B. stratarius (Hufnagel, 1767) рода Biston Leach, 1815. Biston stuningi Viidalepp sp. n. из Западного Памира и Западного Тянь-Шаня в Таджикистане, Узбекистане и Кыргызстане относится к группе B. betularius (Linnaeus, 1758), отличаясь рисунком крыльев, строением гениталий самца и задних ног. Проведено сравнение с типами Biston huberaria (Ballion, 1866) и B. tienschana Wehrli, 1940. Голотипы обоих новых видов хранятся в коллекции Института зоологии и ботаники (Тарту, Эстония), паратипы — в различных коллекциях.Biston pljushtschi Viidalepp sp. n. from the Hissar Mountain Range (Tadjikistan) is described. The species is relatively isolated in the B. stratarius (Hufnagel, 1767) group of species of the genus Biston Leach, 1815. Biston stuningi Viidalepp sp. n. from the West Pamirs and Western Tian-Shan in Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrghyzstan belongs to the B. betularius (Linnaeus, 1758) species group of the genus, differing in its wing pattern, male genitalia and hindlegs armature. Types of Biston huberaria (Ballion, 1866) and B. tienschana Wehrli, 1940 are compared. Holotypes of the both new species are deposited in the collection of the Institute of Zoology and Botany (Tartu) (ZBI), paratypes in various collections

Representations of robots in science fiction film narratives as signifiers of human identity

Recent science fiction has brought anthropomorphic robots from an imaginary far-future to contemporary spacetime. Employing semiotic concepts of semiosis, unpredictability and art as a modelling system, this study demonstrates how the artificial characters in four recent series have greater analogy with human behaviour than that of machines. Through Ricoeur’s notion of identity, this research frames the films’ narratives as typical literary and thought experiments with human identity. However, the familiar sociotopes and technoscientific details included in the narratives concerning data, privacy and human–machine interaction blur the boundary between the human and the machine in both fictional and real-world discourse. Additionally, utilising Haynes’ scientist stereotypes, the research puts the robot makers into focus, revealing their secret agendas and hidden agency behind the artificial creatures

Larentiini Duponchel 1845

Tribe <i>Larentiini</i> Duponchel, 1845 <p>(Figs 98–107) (Mesoleucini McGuffin, 1958)</p> <p> Pierce (1914) described his group “Entephriinae” as follows: valva rounded (i.e. sacculus region wholly fused to), costa thickened, plate-like; manica thickly and minutely spined; anellus dorsal lobes or calcar [present]. (Pierce grouped some <i>Colostygia</i> Hübner (Fig. 83) species with <i>Entephria</i>, therefore anellus lobes mentioned); calcar produced to a long arm is mentioned in texts for <i>Entephria</i> Stephens species; medially dilated valve costa reminds that in <i>Thera</i> Stephens and allied cidariine genera but differs in pollex -like outstanding apical process.</p> <p>Following characters enable us to delimit the tribe: male genital armature with dorsal arms of vinculum dilated triangular, tegumen much slender; a thick hair lock arising from base of valve costa; female apophyses short (shared with Xanthorhoini); vinculum projecting flap-like between the bases of sacculi.</p> <p> McGuffin (1958) separated a tribe Mesoleucini from Hydriomenini s. l. according to morphological characters of larvae; Herbulot recombined these genera into Larentiini. Krüger (2005) has described some species of <i>Entephria</i> with <i>Piercia</i> -like ornamentation to juxta. Distribution: (Neotropical, Afrotropical), Palaearctic.</p>Published as part of <i>Viidalepp, Jaan, 2011, A morphological review of tribes in Larentiinae (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), pp. 1-44 in Zootaxa 3136</i> on pages 28-29, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/279481">10.5281/zenodo.279481</a&gt