New Synchronization Method for Transmission Systems with Variable Length of Bits

Based on the Spartan 3E evaluation module, a flexible platform for the implementation of different algorithms for A/D conversion was developed. The aim of presented work was to improve the concept of the sampling rate adaptation to the input signal rate of change in terms of practical issues including synchronization of delta codecs. The new, original synchronization method, useful in systems dedicated for transmission of variable duration of bits was proposed and experimentally verified. Performed measures and observations have shown elimination of the synchronization lose phenomeno

Walery Pisarek's method of the banner words analysis : the key to understand the dynamics of social awareness

Artykuł omawia genezę, właściwości i rozwój metody badania słów i wyrażeń sztandarowych, podkreślając zasługi jej twórcy - Walerego Pisarka - oraz rolę czynników kontekstowych (w tym zwłaszcza doświadczeń i zasług Ośrodka Badań Prasoznawczych w Krakowie). Twórca metody był zwolennikiem rozwijania politolingwistyki, relatywnie nowej w Polsce subdyscypliny wiedzy badającej związki między rzeczywistością pozajęzykową (polityką) a odmianą języka opisującego politykę i stosowanego przez polityków. Pracując nad metodą badań, Pisarek łączył ogólne założenia politolingwistyki z założeniami aksjologii, wkomponowując wszystko w wyznaczniki empirycznego prasoznawstwa. Tym samym metoda badania słów i wyrażeń sztandarowych łączy możliwości poznawcze semantyki, lingwistyki, analizy słów kluczy i socjologii, umożliwiając diagnozę dynamiki świadomości społecznej na podstawie empirycznie badanego nastawienia do treści wybranych słów sztandarowych: pozytywnych mirandów i negatywnych kondemnandów. Poza opisem założeń metodologicznych tekst zawiera również omówienie największej ogólnopolskiej akcji badań słów i wyrażeń sztandarowych Polaków, przeprowadzanych w latach 1990-1999 przez Walerego Pisarka i zespół OBP. Jego ostatnia część dotyczy kontynuacji badań Profesora i głównych ścieżek rozwoju metody wytyczanych przez uczniów Walerego Pisarka.The article focuses on the analysis of banner words and phrases - the method of research originally conceptualized and tested by Walery Pisarek in the Press Research Centre in Kraków. The very methodology is pictured by its roots, basic features and lines of development, particularly within the context of the Centre's research experiences and resources of the 'golden era of 1970-1980'. Walery Pisarek himself attempted to develop this method in the close context of politolinguistics - a relatively new (in Poland) sub-discipline of the humanities, aiming at an explanation of the relations between extra-linguistic reality (mainly politics), the language used to describe politics and politicians' language. In his conceptual works Pisarek was combining the general assumptions of philosophy of language and political speech with the assumptions of axiology, successfully trying to incorporate this methodology into empirical media and communication knowledge. The method of banner words analysis, thus, draws extensively from semantics, linguistics, key words analysis, philosophy of values but also from sociology, opening a convincing approach to an empirical diagnosis of social awareness, based on the respondents' selection of their most relevant positive banner words (miranda), as well as the negative ones (kondemnanda). Following its methodological aspects, the text discusses the case of a national representative survey, carried out in the Press Research Centre between 1990 and 1999, with the focus on Polish banner words reconstruction, their rankings, systems and semantics. The original methodology of Walery Pisarek has been followed up by his students, who have been blazing the trail for future implementations of this method

Dependent independence : contemporary challenges for media evolution in Switzerland

Media in multicultural and multilingual Switzerland are unique for a number of reasons - including an effectively functioning system of democratic neo-corporationism, favouring a consensual approach and public debate, which in turn requires an effective public information system. The Swiss represent high culture of written word and thus high-quality printed press. Their modern media system, which has taken shape since the federal constitution of 1848, is based on fundamental guarantees for freedom of speech and press, competitive liberal market of private media, journalistic professionalism, a strong role for self-regulatory bodies and social negotiation. The central public service television plays a key role in the system, acting as an integrative, identity forming and educational medium of social debate. The article discusses in detail the premises for systemic destabilisation and the dilemmas for the further development of the Swiss media system in the 21st century, as a result of the financial crisis of digitalisation and global competition with the internet giants, in the context of rising populism and the social costs of the coronavirus pandemic

Evaluations as the core analytical problem in the theory of mediated political persuasion

Evaluation is the fundamental component of persuasion, and as such is making the constitutive frame for political conflicts. It is a function of meaning, concerning primarily the expression of our principle and emotive attitudes to reality. Every persuasive evaluation must be communicated - carried by verbal and non-verbal signs, assembled by codes which organize emotions at three levels of: lexemes, evaluative statements and narrative texts (superstructures). The text describes the main practices of evaluation in political communication, following the premises of anthropology of word and mass media theory. Working on the examples from political debates, selected means of persuasive evaluations are tested. To recapitulate the aforementioned claims an overall structural model of analysis is presented. It comprises all relevant factors and contexts of evaluation practices in political persuasion

Narratology in political communication research : methodological approaches

Developed within literary studies, the narrative theory is helping to understand relations between an author, features of a narrative text, its contents, cultural meanings, and perception. Modern narratology stems from the research of formalists (e.g. V. Propp), structural theory of literature (M. Bakhtin, Y. Lotman), and blossomed due to structuralism and semiology (R. Barthes, T. Todorov, A. Greimas et al.) - to become in the second half of XX century one of the main tools for explaining the communication strategy of a man - storytelling. A narrative is a commonplace to determine the dynamic elements of our experience, and as such is a fundamental category of perception. It is the core of the art of literature, interpretative journalism, but also makes the spine of political marketing (spinning political events and visions). This text tries to describe the basic methodological assumptions of narratology in order to make it suitable for political communication analysis

Reversible graphitization of SiC : a route towards high-quality graphene on a minimally step bunched substrate

We show that the thermal decomposition of SiC (0001) surface is reversible, if carried out in near-equilibrium conditions, with an external Si atomic beam applied to the substrate. Taking advantage of this observation we design a novel process, allowing for the growth of uniform, few-layers, ABC-stacked graphene. This process is composed of two phases; the first is a graphene film growth and the second is its reduction to the desired thickness. We find that, when using this scheme instead of the conventional ones the heavy step bunching on the substrate is avoided, and the step heights remain below 2.75 nm. Since the step bunching is one of the most important factors prohibiting the use of epitaxial graphene on SiC in certain application areas, such as analog electronics or sensing, our method has the potential to be applied in future wafer-scale graphene technologies and processes. Moreover, the results obtained in this work exemplify general near-equilibrium phenomena and therefore they may be also relevant for growth methods of other 2D materials

Reflective and photoacoustic infrared spectroscopic techniques in assessment of binding media in paintings

This study proposes a method to estimate the lipid content in binding media in paintings that can be used at any laboratory equipped with an infrared spectrometer. The lipid content estimator, termed greasiness index (GI), is defined as a ratio of lipid \nu(C=O) and protein amide I bands at 1743 and 1635 cm−1, respectively. Three Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) sampling techniques were evaluated for GI determination: reflective attenuated total reflection-ATR, specular reflection microscopy-\muSR and photoacoustic-PAS. A set of model painting samples containing three tempera binding media (casein, egg, egg + oil), seven pigments and one varnish type were used in the study. Multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the resulting data. A good reproducibility of GI was obtained by ATR and PAS but not with \mu SR. The discriminative power of the technique is higher for unvarnished samples, but, generally, the GI estimator can be used for the categorisation of binding media in large populations of painting samples analysed with the same FTIR technique (sampling technique, detection, etc.)

Device to rehabilitate one’s Physical and Learning Abilities

This article presents an innovative device to rehabilitate people’s physical and learning abilities. We aim to substantiate the subject, review existing solutions, and explain the most important issues connected with rehabilitation. We describe the CAD-based conceptual design of the device, its dedicated software, selection of actuators, and construction of the device’s prototype, including its first tests. The device includes an original set of exercises, which can be individually set for every patient to improve his physical abilities, memory (both visual and auditory) and reflexes (i.e. reaction time to a stimulus). Rehabilitation exercises, which are performed in virtual reality and shown on a display screen, are additionally enhanced in real life by introducing obstacles and space restrictions, which the user faces while performing his tasks. Deliberate restrictions of one’s space in which to perform exercises is made possible not only due to the device’s original design, that is a four-frames construction, but also due to connectors with adjustable installation points, which enables positioning of obstacles to suit the current state of a patient. The prototype device and its original software have been designed to suit stroke convalescents and preschool children. First tests were carried out with preschool children and this article highlights the results of these tests. They included exercises, which were custom-made for children, such as a quiz, exercise to train one’s reflexes, visual memory, auditory memory and games involving music. Since the rehabilitation device utilizes unique technical solutions, a patent application has been filed for it

Compact Broadband Rat-Race Coupler in Multilayer Technology Designed with the Use of Artificial Right- and Left-Handed Transmission Lines, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2012, nr 2

The paper presents a compact broadband rat-race coupler for the first time designed and realized in a multilayer microstrip technology. To achieve both broad operational bandwidth and a compact size the 270◦ transmission line of a conventional rat-race, coupler has been replaced by a –90◦ left-handed transmission line realized with the use of a quasi-lumped element technique. Moreover, to achieve better compactness of the resulting coupler, all 90◦ right-handed transmission lines have been realized with the use of the same technique. It has been also proved that simple LC approximation of a left-handed transmission line can be successfully used for the design. Moreover, it has been shown that when appropriately chosen, the multilayer dielectric structure allows for realization of structures designed with the use of this simple approximation, for both right-handed and left-handed transmission lines, without loosing too much of a performance