Siega Verde and the open-air rock art of the northern Iberian Peninsula (Spain)

Siega Verde was the third open-air rock art site to be discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, even before Côa and the controversy that followed that discovery. Its practicable size and the study carried out without any publicity allowed the analysis of a new reality that would change the interpretation of Palaeolithic art. From the start of the research, stylistic criteria were used to date the art in the absence of archaeological excavations. Although this has often been criticized, it meant that Siega Verde and Côa could be dated from Leroi-Gourhan’s Style II onwards. Excavations at Fariseu, a site belonging to Côa in Portugal, have proved that hypothesis archaeologically, as well as supporting the applicability of Leroi-Gourhan’s styles. Siega Verde is a good representative of Palaeolithic art in the open, on rocks by a river-bank or on prominent hills, but it is not the only form that can be catalogued as open-air rock art, because there are intermediate forms. These are found in cave entrances and in rock-shelters all over the Iberian Peninsula, especially in areas where little evidence of Palaeolithic art used to be known, such as on the southern Mediterranean coast and in Andalusia. This site possesses an exterior Upper Palaeolithic art ensemble, similar to the art found inside caves and of the same age, but in a different location. Formal relationships are usual inside and outside the caves and in both cases they represent a communicative code that did not need the dark and mystery to be expressed.

Understanding gender segregation through Call Data Records: An Estonian case study

Understanding segregation plays a significant role in determining the development pathways of a country as it can help governmental and other concerned agencies to prepare better-targeted policies for the needed groups. However, inferring segregation through alternative data, apart from governmental surveys remains limited due to the non-availability of representative datasets. In this work, we utilize Call Data Records (CDR) provided by one of Estonia’s major telecom operators to research the complexities of social interaction and human behavior in order to explain gender segregation. We analyze the CDR with two objectives. First, we study gender segregation by exploring the social network interactions of the CDR. We find that the males are tightly linked which allows information to spread faster among males compared to females. Second, we perform the micro-analysis using various users’ characteristics such as age, language, and location. Our findings show that the prime working-age population (i.e., (24,54] years) is more segregated than others. We also find that the Estonian-speaking population (both males and females) are more likely to interact with other Estonian-speaking individuals of the same gender. Further to ensure the quality of this dataset, we compare the CDR data features with publicly available Estonian census datasets. We observe that the CDR dataset is indeed a good representative of the Estonian population, which indicates that the findings of this study reasonably reflect the reality of gender segregation in the Estonian Landscape.

On the interface of organic aerosols: molecular level understanding of surface melting, mixing and water adsorption/desorption dynamics

<p>The detailed description of organic aerosols surfaces in the atmosphere remains an open issue, which limits our ability to understand and predict environmental change. Important research questions concern the hydrophobic/hydrophilic character of fresh and aged aerosols and the related influence on water uptake in solid, liquid as well in intermediate state.  Also, surface characterization remains big challenge but we find it reachable by conjunction of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and the environmental molecular beam (EMB) experimental method.  A  picture of the detailed molecular-level behavior of water molecules on organic surfaces is beginning to rise based on detailed experimental and theoretical studies; one example is a recent study that investigates water interactions with solid and liquid n-butanol near the melting point [1], another example focus on interaction of water with solid nopinone [2]. From the other side, in order to characterize surface properties during and before melting we employ MD simulations of n-butanol, nopinone and valeric acid. Nopinone (C<sub>9</sub>H<sub>14</sub>O) is a reaction product formed during oxidation of β-pinene and has been found in both the gas and particle phases of atmospheric aerosol. n-butanol (C<sub>4</sub>H<sub>9</sub>OH) is primary alcohol, naturally occurs scarcely and here serves as good representative for alcohols. In the same way valeric acid (CH<sub>3</sub>(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>3</sub>COOH) serves as a good representative for a family of carboxylic acids. Valeric acid is, as n-butanol, straight-chain molecule. We show that a classical force field for organic material is able to model crystal and liquid structures. The surface properties near the melting point of the condensed phase are reported, and the hydrophobic and hydrophilic character of the surface layer is discussed.  Overall surface melting dynamic is presented and quantified in the terms of structural and geometrical properties. Mixing of a methanol with the solid nopinone surface is examined and hereby presented.</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>[1] Johansson, S. M., Lovrić, J., Kong, X., Thomson, E. S., Papagiannakopoulos, P., Briquez, S., Toubin, C, Pettersson, J. B. C. (2019). Understanding water interactions with organic surfaces: environmental molecular beam and molecular dynamics studies of the water–butanol system. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8CP04151B   </p><p>[2] Johansson, S. M., Lovrić, J., Kong, X., Thomson, E. S., Hallquist, M., & Pettersson, J. B. C. (2020). Experimental and Computational Study of Molecular Water Interactions with Condensed Nopinone Surfaces Under Atmospherically Relevant Conditions. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, acs.jpca.9b10970. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.9b10970</p><p>Keywords: Molecular Dynamics, organic crystal, organic aerosols, water uptake, surface procesess, molecular level</p>

«Deputy of the Baltic»: dramatic representation of the image of an intellectual in Soviet culture

Theatrical and cinematic future of so-called by «revolutionary tale» by L. Rakhmanov is unique by its establishment. Both script and screenplay went through several editions. The result contains typical signs of soviet propaganda of 1930s, in all their contradictory continuity. Artistical research is united with soviet agitation, gravity of dramaturgical conflict is united with gravity of philosophical conflict. Main character, professor Polezhaev, is good representative of prerevolutionary intelligentsia, positively accepts changes after 1917. His opinion becomes the reason of occurrence of two groups, supporters and opponents of main character. Leonid Rakhmanov’s libretto had four varieties: staged one («Hectic senility») and two screenplays. All of them are different from “Baltic deputy” (1937, ed. by I. Hejfic and A. Zarchi). Analysis of plot evolution, from the scenario idea to the finished fi lm, is important for the large amount of people, from the cinephiles to the experts such as dramatists, editors and directors. Authors’ ways of «Polezhaev’s case» creation (on the stage, in scripts and fi lm) are significant. Theme of intellectual who lives in eras’ breaking point and confidently declares his honest citizenship is still important.

Segmentation Based Feature Evaluation and Fusion for Prognostics

Quantification of feature goodness, called feature evaluation, is crucial in the identification of best features and achieving high accuracy in diagnostics and prognostics. Even though feature evaluation for diagnostics is a mature area, it is a developing research area for prognostics. The feature goodness for prognostics is measured by change in degradation. Most, if not all, of existing methods, analyze the feature change in the whole failure degradation. In other words, features collected throughout the failure degradation are analyzed to create a goodness value for the feature. In reality, the goodness of the features may change during the failure progression. A feature may be a good representative of failure progression in the initial phase but not in the final phases, or vice versa. This paper presents a methodology that divides the features into segments, each of which may have different goodness for prognostics. Thus, some part of the feature may be good, whereas the others not. The presented approach leads to extract more value from the features’ changing properties during the failure degradation. The method has been applied to simulated and real datasets obtained from Li-ion batteries aging tests. State of health (SoH) estimation accuracy is enhanced with the presented approach.

A comparative study of satellite galaxies in Milky Way-like galaxies from HSC, DECaLS, and SDSS

ABSTRACT We conduct a comprehensive and statistical study of the luminosity functions (LFs) for satellite galaxies, by counting photometric galaxies from HSC, DECaLS, and SDSS around isolated central galaxies (ICGs) and paired galaxies from the SDSS/DR7 spectroscopic sample. Results of different surveys show very good agreement. The satellite LFs can be measured down to MV ∼ −10, and for central primary galaxies as small as 8.5 < log10M*/M⊙ < 9.2 and 9.2 < log10M*/M⊙ < 9.9, which implies there are on average 3–8 satellites with MV < −10 around LMC-mass ICGs. The bright end cutoff of satellite LFs and the satellite abundance are both sensitive to the magnitude gap between the primary and its companions, indicating galaxy systems with larger magnitude gaps are on average hosted by less massive dark matter haloes. By selecting primaries with stellar mass similar to our Milky Way (MW), we discovered that (i) the averaged satellite LFs of ICGs with different magnitude gaps to their companions and of galaxy pairs with different colour or colour combinations all show steeper slopes than the MW satellite LF; (ii) there are on average more satellites with −15 < MV < −10 than those in our MW; (iii) there are on average 1.5 to 2.5 satellites with MV < −16 around ICGs, consistent with our MW; (iv) even after accounting for the large scatter predicted by numerical simulations, the MW satellite LF is uncommon at MV > −12. Hence, the MW and its satellite system are statistically atypical of our sample of MW-mass systems. In consequence, our MW is not a good representative of other MW-mass galaxies. Strong cosmological implications based on only MW satellites await additional discoveries of fainter satellites in extra-galactic systems. Interestingly, the MW satellite LF is typical among other MW-mass systems within 40 Mpc in the local Universe, perhaps implying the Local Volume is an underdense region.

Representing Evil

The films of Lars von Trier, especially Europa and Melancholia, grapple with the problem of representing evil and insist that the avoidance of evil is a failure of representation. Evil presents a peculiar problem for any theory of political representation. Is a political society the better for including the representation of evil or avoiding it? Von Trier’s films address this problem by depicting evil as something omnipresent and yet difficult for some to see or to acknowledge. To be a faithful representative in a world that contains evil is not an easy vocation. A representative may have the unpopular task of bringing to light not just what a population says or thinks, but what they are in the whole, for better or worse. A good representative, then, may not be a popular one.

The Legitimacy of Representation

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance examines the classic democratic paradox and proposes an unusual resolution. How can representation be legitimate, many democratic theorists have asked, when it rests on political exclusions? Rather than a legitimacy that rests on voting rules or legal obligations, we see in this film the bond between a society and its representative forged as an erotic relationship of debt and obligation. A good representative, on this account, is someone who sacrifices part of his or her identity for the sake of others. The means for doing so is a narrative that gathers together reason and power into an expression that ties the representative to the constituents. But this experience is costly for all parties, and it demonstrates the permanent tension between freedom and happiness that is a feature of political pessimism. Representative systems are sustained by our endurance of this tension.

PECULIARITIES OF INTERTEXT AND INTERCULTURE PARADIGM OF JOSEPH ROT PROSE

The article analyses interpretation of Joseph Roth prose in the context of intertextuality as a literary means. It is determined by the author’s strategy and studied the aesthetic issues that are fundamental to his work. Intertextuality proves a postmodern phenomenon of reinterpretation of classic and new texts, giving them new meanings and establishing parallels with modern literature, which is reflected in an adequate interpretation of their genre and stylistic forms, the interpretation of philosophical concepts, iconic fictional and aesthetic phenomena. So in fiction there is an additional dimension – intercultural component of the artistic world of the text. This theoretical approach is extremely productive, especially in the study of works of those authors; the arts are rooted in different spheres of human existence, formed on the border of their own cultures, languages, historical and national traditions. A good representative of “intercultural” narrative strategy is Joseph Roth. Thus, under conditions of intertextual interaction, the literary work becomes part of a broad intertextual space that covers not only literary, but also outside of literature forms of expression, and any text is in various “dialogical” relations with other texts that fill this space with different language codes that are represented in this space.

The mean conformation tensor in viscoelastic turbulence

This work demonstrates that the popular arithmetic mean conformation tensor frequently used in the analysis of turbulent viscoelastic flows is not a good representative of the ensemble. Alternative means based on recent developments in the literature are proposed, namely, the geometric and log-Euclidean means. These means are mathematically consistent with the Riemannian structure of the manifold of positive-definite tensors, on which the conformation tensor lives, and have useful properties that make them attractive alternatives to the arithmetic mean. Using a turbulent FENE-P channel flow dataset, it is shown that these two alternatives are physically representative of the ensemble. By definition, these means minimize the geodesic distance to realizations and exactly preserve the scalar geometric mean of the volume and of the principal stretches. The proposed geometric and log-Euclidean means have clear physical interpretations and are attractive quantities for turbulence modelling.