“Learning Functional Grammar is fun”: A snapshot of functional grammar unit at an English Education Department in Indonesia

This paper reports on a teaching program for the Functional Grammar (FG) unit at an English Education Study Program of a state university in West Java Indonesia in 2020-2022.  Three cohorts of pre-service teachers in semester six were involved in the program (38 students in 2020, 26 in 2021, and 36 in 2022). The teaching program was conducted online due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The report focuses on exploring students’ understanding of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) – FG in particular, and their ability to use SFL in text analysis. The study  also addresses students’ opinions on learning SFL through FG unit. The  study used a qualitative case study design and the data were obtained from participant observations, a questionnaire distributed at the end of the teaching program, and analysis of students’ essays on text analyses. In the interest of space, the paper will only present and discuss data from the questionnaire and three samples of student essays. The questionnaire data were analysed qualitatively using a thematic analysis of different aspects of the unit and SFL, and students’ essays were analysed using SFL, especially theme, transitivity, and mood systems in lexicogrammar stratum. The data from the questionnaire indicate that all the students in all cohorts responded positively to the teaching program. Many students in each cohort said that learning FG is fun, enjoyable, interesting, and useful for both daily and academic life. They displayed a good understanding of SFL, including its basic principles, notions, and values ­ – especially concerning their reading and writing improvement. The data from students’ essays also reveal their ability to show how and why the text means what it does and to evaluate why the text is or is not effective for its own purposes. On this basis, it is recommended that SFL be introduced to Indonesian university students to enhance their literacy capacity and to Indonesian teachers to improve their teaching skills and their ways to develop assessment that is linguistically informed

Additions to the biota of lichenicolous and lichenized fungi of Poland

Two lichenicolous fungi, Ceratobasidium bulbillifaciens and Sclerococcum phaeophysciae, and one lichen, Xanthoria aureola, are reported for the first time from Poland. For each species, the descriptions with notes on similar species, habitat preferences and general distribution are provided

“Could you, would you, should you?” Regulating cross-border travel through COVID-19 soft law in Finland

In the coronavirus pandemic that has swept the world, the Finnish Government, like many of its peers, has issued policy measures to combat the virus. Many of these measures have been implemented in law, including measures taken under the Emergency Powers Act, or by ministries and regional and local authorities exercising their legal powers. However, some governmental policy measures have been implemented using non-binding guidelines and recommendations. Using border travel recommendations as a case study, this article critically evaluates governmental soft law-making. The debacle over the use of soft law to fight the pandemic in Finland revealed fundamental misunderstandings about the processes and circumstances under which instruments conceived as soft law can be issued, as well as a lack of attention to their effects from a fundamental rights perspective

Neural Stem Cell Spreading on Lipid Based Artificial Cell Surfaces, Characterized by Combined X-ray and Neutron Reflectometry

We developed a bioadhesive coating based on a synthetic peptide-conjugate (AK-cycloRGDfC]) which contains multiples of the arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid (RGD) amino acid sequence. Biotinylated AK-cycloRGDfC] is bound to a supported lipid bilayer via a streptavidin interlayer. Layering, hydration and packing of the coating is quantified by X-ray and neutron reflectometry experiments. AK-cycloRGDfC] binds to the streptavidin interlayer in a stretched-out on edge configuration. The highly packed configuration with only 12% water content maximizes the number of accessible adhesion sites. Enhanced cell spreading of neural stem cells was observed for AK-cycloRGDfC] functionalized bilayers. Due to the large variety of surfaces which can be coated by physisorption of lipid bilayers, this approach is of general interest for the fabrication of biocompatible surfaces

Mylly - The Mill : A new platform for processing speech and text corpora easily and efficiently

Speech and language researchers need to manage and analyze increasing quantities of material. Various tools are available for various stages of the work, but they often require the researcher to use different interfaces and to convert the output from each tool into suitable input for the next one. The Language Bank of Finland (Kielipankki) is developing an on-line platform called Mylly for processing speech and language data in a graphical user interface that integrates different tools into a single workflow. Mylly provides tools and computational resources for processing material and for the inspecting the results. The tools plugged into Mylly include a parser, morphological analyzers, generic finite-state technology, and a speech recognizer. Users can upload data and download any intermediate results in the tool chain. Mylly runs on CSC’s Taito cluster and is an instance of the Chipster platform. Access rights to Mylly are given for academic use. The Language Bank of Finland is a collection of corpora, tools and other services maintained by FIN-CLARIN, a consortium of Finnish universities and research organizations coordinated by the University of Helsinki. The technological infrastructure for the Language Bank of Finland is provided by CSC – IT Center for Science.Peer reviewe

Mylly – The Mill : A platform for processing and analyzing your language data

Non peer reviewe

Comparison of Three Electronic Speckle Pattern Shearing Interferometers using Photopolymer Holographic Optical Elements.

Three electronic speckle pattern shearing interferometers (ESPSI) using photopolymer holographic gratings to produce the sheared image are presented. In the first ESPSI system two holographic gratings are used. The gratings are placed between the object and an imaging lens in front of the CCD camera. In the second ESPSI system one grating is used in combination with a sheet of ground glass. The sheared images on the ground glass are further imaged onto a CCD camera. In the third ESPSI system only one grating is used - it is placed in front of the object. The image and the sheared image are imaged onto the CCD camera, whose optical axis coincides with the normal to the object surface. The introduction of photopolymer holographic gratings in ESPSI systems gives the advantage of using high aperture optical elements at relatively low price. The systems are compared in terms of flexibility in their adjustment, sensitivity, suitability and limitations for different applications

The lichen family Parmeliaceae in Poland. III. Parmelia serrana, new to Poland

Parmelia serrana A. Crespo, M.C. Molina & D. Hawksw. is reported here for the first time from Poland. The species has been recorded from more than 20 localities and exclusively on the bark of trees. Its general distribution, habitat requirements, morphology, secondary chemistry are provided and the differences between this species and similar taxa, especially P. saxatilis and P. ernstiae, are discussed

Investigation of the Photoinduced Surface Relief Modulation in Acrylamide-based Photopolymer

A surface relief diffraction grating is inscribed in acrylamide photopolymer by holographic recording with spatial frequency below 300 l/mm. The periodic surface modulation appears in addition to a volume phase holographic grating. Due to the nature of the presented photopolymerisable material the gratings are induced by light only and no post-processing is required. An investigation of the dependance of the amplitude of the photoinduced relief modulation on spatial frequency of recording and on sample thickness has been carried out utilising white light interferometry. A model of the mechanism of surface relief formation is proposed on the basis of the measured dependencies. The possibility for inscription of surface relief modulation implies different applications of the photopolymer: fabrication of diffractive optical elements, recording of computer generated holograms and biosensors

Application of a Photopolymer Material in Speckle Pattern Shearing Interferometry

A new application of a photopolymer diffractive optical element in electronic speckle pattern shearing interferometer (ESPSI) is presented. In the first stage a holographic grating is recorded using an acrylamide based photopolymer material. Since the polymerisation process occurs during recording, the holograms are produced without any development or processing. In the second stage the holographic grating is used to produce the two sheared images in an ESPSI configuration. A ground glass screen following the grating serves the purpose of eliminating unwanted diffraction orders. The distance between the grating and the ground glass can be used to control the amount of the shear. The sheared images on the ground glass are further imaged onto a CCD camera. The proposed system is simple and flexible