Topophilie und topophobie in stig sæterbakkens roman Gjennom natten

This article focuses on the emotional perception of space in Stig Sæterbakkenʼs novel Gjennom natten (2012). Topoanalysis is used to examine the various emotions that the protagonist Karl feels about specific spaces – be it a house, an apartment, a part of an apartment, or a city. It turns out that space serves as a projection surface for Karlʼs feelings. Therefore, his descriptions of the respective spaces usually coincide with the narratorʼs mood, and in this sense, topoanalysis allows us to predict and better understand the motivations behind the protagonistʼs actions. Based on Gaston Bachelardʼs space concept and Yi-Fu Thuanʼs terminology, Karl's feelings are classified as topophilia (love of place) and topophobia (fear of place). However, the analysis has shown that the binary opposition topophilia-topophobia is not sufficient for determining the emotions presented and, therefore, the terms “topoaversion” and “topoanimosity” are introduced.

A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON CALCULATION METHOD OF VISUAL IMPACT OF URBAN ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE

Urban architectural heritage as a part of cultural heritage, its surrounding buildings will have a certain visual impact on the cultural heritage itself. This paper presents a method for calculating visual impact and applies it to the field of urban architectural heritage. In this method, the visual radius and visual range are calculated based on the theoretical knowledge related to the range of human eye line of sight and the curvature of the earth, and then the visual projection plane is established. Then, through skyline analysis and spatial relationship calculation, the urban architectural heritage and its surrounding buildings are projected. Calculate the visual impairment index through the projection area and the projection surface area to quantify the visual impact. By calculating the visual impact in The Lama Temple area, it is proved that the method presented in this paper is effective and advanced in practical application.

Proclaiming a prophecy empty of substance? A pragmatist reconsideration of global governance

In 1995, the UN Commission on Global Governance published their “Our Global Neighbourhood” report and the academic journal “Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations” was launched. Both events in retrospect play a significant role in the emergence of global governance thinking and practice in world politics. Despite inherent ambiguities, this idea since then gained massive traction and became both a modality and a heuristic of world politics. Advancing a pragmatist framework, we unpack global governance in terms of the beliefs which underline and guide it. These beliefs are important since they, as rules for action, define the scope of global governance as a theoretical and a political concept. Reconstructing these beliefs directly from the 1995 report, the article highlights the inherent conflations of normative and analytical commitments indicative of global governance. As a projection surface of all kinds, we believe such a reconsideration of global governance is important to (a) reveal the baselines of its thinking and practice, (b) indicate how its normative and analytical ambitions overlap and conflate, and (c) contribute to a more reflective discussion on the idea which explicitly considers its inherent normativity. At the same time, we hope to show the value of a pragmatist framework on beliefs for the study of world politics.

Jan Hardy versus Likwidator. Comics als Medien der gesellschaftlichen Spaltung Polens

This article at the intersection of cultural studies of popular and memory culture deals with the genre of comics as an identity-forming (protest) medium and projection surface for the ideologised “culture war” between traditionalists and modernists in contemporary Poland. The analysis focuses on two historical comics that combine facts and imaginary and refer back to the Second World War, the communist period and the recent history of the Republic of Poland after 1989. The article juxtaposes two title heroes and their comic worlds, which represent opposite ends of the political spectrum and reveal the problem areas of Poland’s dividedness along the underlying canon of values and symbolic worlds: Jan Hardy, the national-conservative “cursed soldier”, and Likwidator, the relentless “anarcho-terrorist”. The characters and their adventures exemplify fundamental memory cultural, religious, nationalist and emancipatory discourses in Poland today. The focus of the analysis lies on the creation context and the (visual) language with its narrative-aesthetic intensifications, which illuminate Poland’s current state of conflict between national egoism and traditional “cultural patriotism” on the one hand and liberal value relativism with its progressive-emancipatory rhetoric on the other.

Quantitative anatomy of the fused ossification center of the occipital squama in the human fetus

CT-based quantitative analysis of any ossification center in the cranium has not previously been carried out due to the limited availability of human fetal material. Detailed morphometric data on the development of ossification centers in the human fetus may be useful in the early detection of congenital defects. Ossification disorders in the cranium are associated with either a delayed development of ossification centers or their mineralization. These aberrations may result in the formation of accessory skull bones that differ in shape and size, and the incidence of which may be misdiagnosed as, e.g., skull fractures. The study material comprised 37 human fetuses of both sexes (16♂, 21♀) aged 18–30 weeks. Using CT, digital image analysis software, 3D reconstruction and statistical methods, the linear, planar and spatial dimensions of the occipital squama ossification center were measured. The morphometric characteristics of the fused ossification center of the occipital squama show no right—left differences. In relation to gestational age, the ossification center of the occipital squama grows linearly in its right and left vertical diameters, logarithmically in its transverse diameters of both the interparietal and supraoccipital parts and projection surface area, and according to a quadratic function in its volume. The obtained numerical findings of the occipital squama ossification center may be considered age-specific references of relevance in both the estimation of gestational age and the diagnostic process of congenital defects.

“Shame on the church of Sweden”: Radical nationalism and the appropriation of Christianity in contemporary Sweden

During the last decade, the populist radical nationalist party, the Sweden Democrats (SD), has gone from being a minor party to become Sweden’s third largest party in parliament. In this article, the author shows how the category of Christianity has come to play a pivotal role in the party’s political identification. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau’s analysis of populism, the author argues that Christianity should be understood as a projection surface for fantasies of an ethnically and culturally superior homogenous nation vis-à-vis constructed national others. In a populist logic, Christianity has thus become a way to distinguish the SD from its articulated external (e.g., Muslims, immigrants) and internal (liberalism, feminism) political foes. By appropriating Christianity, the SD articulates itself as the guardian of true Christianity, the future savior of a Church allegedly hijacked by external and internal foes, and in the long run, the Swedish nation.

The Light Source Metaphor Revisited—Bringing an Old Concept for Teaching Map Projections to the Modern Web

Map projections are one of the foundations of geographic information science and cartography. An understanding of the different projection variants and properties is critical when creating maps or carrying out geospatial analyses. The common way of teaching map projections in text books makes use of the light source (or light bulb) metaphor, which draws a comparison between the construction of a map projection and the way light rays travel from the light source to the projection surface. Although conceptually plausible, such explanations were created for the static instructions in textbooks. Modern web technologies may provide a more comprehensive learning experience by allowing the student to interactively explore (in guided or unguided mode) the way map projections can be constructed following the light source metaphor. The implementation of this approach, however, is not trivial as it requires detailed knowledge of map projections and computer graphics. Therefore, this paper describes the underlying computational methods and presents a prototype as an example of how this concept can be applied in practice. The prototype will be integrated into the Geographic Information Technology Training Alliance (GITTA) platform to complement the lesson on map projections.