Recasts versus clarification requests: the relevance of linguistic target, proficiency, and communicative ability

This paper compares the effects of recasts and clarification requests as two implicit types of corrective feedback (CF) on learning two linguistic structures denoting past aspectual distinction in French, the passé composé and the imparfait. The participants in this classroom-based study are 52 high-school learners of French FL at a pre-intermediate level of proficiency (level B1 of CEFR). A distinctive feature of this study is the use of focused, context constrained communicative tasks in both treatment and tests. The paper specifically highlights the advantages of feedback using recasts for the acquisition of morphosyntactically complex grammatical structures such as is the French passé composé. The study points to the participants’ communicative ability as an essential aspect of language proficiency, which seems to be crucial to bringing about the benefits of recasts. Oral communicative skill in a foreign language classroom is seen as a prerequisite for an appropriate interpretation and recognition of the corrective nature of recasts

Processing epistemic modality in a second language : a self-paced reading study

The current study brings together two novel perspectives: one is concerned with second language acquisition of complex modal semantics by learners of a Slavic (Croatian) language, and the other relates to online processing of modal auxiliary verbs in L2 English. The study sought to examine how English L2 learners process modal verbs can and may in their epistemic, deontic, and dynamic meaning, referring to epistemic possibility (e.g. He may come to the party), to giving or asking permission (You may/can come in), or to the expression of ability (He can speak four languages). Participants were a group of Croatian university students majoring in English (N=12) and a group of English L1 speakers studying at a UK university (N=8). They all completed a self-paced reading task which is thought to be tapping into implicit linguistic knowledge. Results suggest that Croatian native speakers acquire the dynamic and deontic modal meaning up to the native level, but they differ from English native speakers as far as epistemic modal semantics is concerned. The results are in line with previous studies in L1 and L2 research which demonstrated delayed acquisition of epistemic modality in comparison with non-epistemic modality. However, the findings also contribute to research on cross-linguistic influences and L1 concept transfer, suggesting that features and their related concepts which are not instantiated in one’s L1 may not be fully acquired even at more advanced levels

Schurov komplement

U ovom radu predstavili smo Schurov komplement kvadratne blok-matrice i njegove primjene kod determinante, inverza, sustava linearnih jednadžbi, ranga i inercije. Također smo i poopćili Schurov komplement na singularne i pravokutne blok-matrice te opet proučavali primjenu poopćenog Schurovog komplementa na gore navedena područja linearne algebre. Time smo dali pregled elementarnih pojmova linearne algebre u kontekstu Schurovog komplementa. Primjena Schurovog komplementa moguća je u područjima unutar i izvan okvira matematike pa je i danas aktualna i zanimljiva tema za istraživanje i primjene.In this thesis we have presented Schur complement of a square matrix and its applications to determinants, inverse, system of linear equations, rank and inertia. Moreover, we have defined generalized Shur complement for singular and rectangular matrix and once again discussed its application on the above mentioned areas of Linear Algebra. In this way we gave an overview of elementary concepts of Linear algebra within the context of Schur complements. Schur complement can be used both within and outside of mathematics and they are still a popular and interesting area of research

Weather analysis during extreme forest fire on island of Brač from 14 to 17 July 2011

Tijekom šumskog požara na otoku Braču, u samo nekoliko dana, izgorjela je velika površina od oko 5600 ha borove šume, makije, niskog raslinja, maslinika i vinograda, što ga svrstava među najveće požare u Hrvatskoj. Za vrijeme trajanja šumskog požara od 14. do 17. srpnja 2011., na otoku Braču analizirani su prizemni podaci brzine i smjera vjetra, temperature i relativne vlažnosti zraka s klimatoloških postaja Bol i Sutivan, s glavnih (satne vrijednosti) i automatskih (10-min podaci) postaja Hvar, Makarska i Split-Marjan. Za procjenu opasnosti od požara primijenjena je kanadska metoda za izračunavanje indeksa FWI (Fire Weather Index), koji je za trajanja požara pokazivao vrlo veliku opasnost. Požar se nakon početka, oko 14 h, u uvali Blace širio velikom brzinom. Uoči požara pri tlu je puhalo umjereno do na udare jako jugo. Na postaji Bol relativna vlažnost zraka je iznosila 38%, a maksimalna dnevna temperatura zraka bila je 35°C u 15 h po ljetnom vremenu prvog dana požara. Dnevni hod relativne vlažnosti zraka bio je poremećen u odnosu na uobičajeni. Numeričkim modelom ALADIN/HR simulirani su vertikalni profili brzine i smjera vjetra iznad Bola prvog dana požara. Modelirani vertikalni profil brzine vjetra pokazuje maksimum brzine vjetra u donjoj troposferi oko 9 m/s u sloju 390 m do 750 m što je utjecalo na brzinu širenja požara. Drugog dana požara, došlo je do promjene smjera vjetra s juga (SE) na maestral (NW). To je uvjetovalo promjenu smjera širenja šumskog požara. Međutim, za bolju poveznicu između vremenskih prilika i ponašanja šumskog požara nužne su detaljne informacije s terena koje bi osobito pomogle u predviđanju nastanka požara raslinja na Jadranu.During the forest fire burned on the island is a large area of ​​approximately 5600 hectares of pine forests, underbrush, low vegetation, olive groves and vineyards in just a few days making it one of the biggest fires in Croatia. For the duration of the wildfire of 14 to 17 July 2011. on the island ground data were analyzed wind speed and direction, temperature and relative humidity from the climatological station Pain and Sutivan, with the main (hourly values​​) and automatic (10-min data) station Hvar, Makarska, Split-Marjan. To estimate the risk of fire was applied to the Canadian method for calculating the index FWI (Fire Weather Index), which was demonstrated during the fire danger is very great. The fire after the beginning about 14 h in the bay Blace spread rapidly. Ahead of the fire at the ground The wind was blowing moderately to heavily impact on the south. Pain at the station relative humidity was 38% and maximum daily air temperature was 35 ° C for 15 h at the summer-time first day of the fire. Daily cycle of relative humidity was disrupted compared to normal. The numerical model ALADIN / HR are simulated vertical profiles of wind speed and direction over the fire on the first day of Bol. The modeled vertical wind speed profile shows a maximum wind speed in the lower troposphere around 9 m / s in a layer 390 m to 750 m, which affected the speed of fire spreading. The second day of fighting, there was a change in wind direction from south (SE) ​​at Mistral (NW). It has caused a change in the direction of the spread of forest fires. However, to better link between weather and behavior of forest fires are necessary detailed information from the field, which would particularly help in predicting the occurrence of vegetation fires on the Adriatic

Unpacking L2 explicit linguistic knowledge and online processing of the English modals may and can : A comparison of acceptability judgments and self-paced reading

The present study uses self-paced reading as a measure of online processing and an acceptability judgement task as a measure of offline explicit linguistic knowledge, to understand L2 learners’ comprehension processes and their awareness of subtle differences between the modal auxiliaries may and can. Participants were two groups of university students: 42 native speakers of English and 41 native speakers of Croatian majoring in L2 English. The study is part of a larger project that has provided empirical evidence of the two modals, may and can, being mutually exclusive when denoting ability (can) and epistemic possibility (may) but equally acceptable in pragmatic choices expressing permission. The present results revealed that L1 and L2 speakers rated the acceptability of sentences in offline tasks similarly; however, L2 learners showed no sensitivity to verb–context mismatches in epistemic modality while demonstrating sensitivity when processing modals expressing ability. Implications for L2 acquisition of modals and future research are discussed

Intense desert dust event in the northern Adriatic (March 2020); insights from the numerical model application and chemical characterization results.

The untypically extreme and sudden particulate matter outbreak set stage over Balkan region from 27 to 30 March 2020. The available observations at air quality stations in Croatia recorded the hourly PM10 concentrations up to 412 μgm-3. Meteorological analysis shows the PM10 concentrations increase was primarily affected by advection of mineral dust from the desert area east to the Caspian Sea. The anticyclone north of Croatia and cyclone over Anatolia formed a strong pressure gradient driving a transport from the east. The backward trajectories as well as satellite products indicated the dry Aral Sea as a major source of dust. A dust plume affected the PM10 increase observed in Croatia, starting at Osijek and easternmost air quality stations . Modeling study shows the vertical extension of a plume was up to ~2 km. However, the PM10 chemical (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, PAHs) and morphological (SEM analyses) composition at the site in the northeastern Adriatic revealed mainly the presence of the Saharan dust. Preceding the Asian dust advection, the Saharan dust transport towards Balkan driven by Sharav cyclone was observed in PM10 at several stations in the Adriatic and continental Croatia on 26 March 2020. Modeling results showed the Saharan dust transport was at levels below ~ 8 km. The mixing of the Asian and Saharan dust plumes over Balkan was favored by subsidence due to anticyclonic high pressure conditions, and it is the most likely explanation for the observed PMs chemical and morphological results

The impact of ship traffic and harbor activities on the atmospheric pollution in two northern adriatic ports: Venice and Rijeka

The aim of the POSEIDON project is to quantify the relative contribution of maritime traffic and harbor activities to atmospheric pollutants concentration in four port-cities of the Adriatic Sea. This study focuses on the harbors of Venice and Rijeka. In order to investigate the main pollution sources, emission inventories were used as input for receptor models: PMF (positive matrix factorization) and PCA (principal components analysis); moreover source identification was also conducted using PAHs diagnostic ratios. The ship traffic impact was quantified: i) on gaseous and particulate PAHs, collected using a new method which consisted in a double simultaneous sampling, in different wind sectors; ii) applying PMF to data of metals, PAHs and ions in PM10; iii) using the vanadium concentration according to the Agrawal methodology

Impact of maritime transport on particulate matter concentrations and chemical compositions in four port-cities of the Adriatic/Ionian area: an overview of the results of POSEIDON project

Pollutant emissions from ships and harbour activities constitute an important source of pollution of coastal areas with potential influences on the climate and the health of their inhabitants. A recent review (Viana et al., 2014) shows that these emissions could have an important impact on the Mediterranean and that there is a lack of data for the Eastern and South-Eastern part of this area. This work presents an analysis of the impact of ship emissions to atmospheric particle concentrations (PM) in four important port-cities (Patras Greece, Brindisi and Venice Italy, and Rijeka Croatia) of the Adriatic/Ionian area. The study was performed within the POSEIDON project (Pollution monitoring of ship emissions: an integrated approach for harbours of the Adriatic basin, funded within the MED Programme 2007-2013). The study uses an integrated approach using emission inventories, dispersion modelling and measurements taken at high temporal resolution (1 min) and low temporal resolution for chemical characterization of PM. The emission inventories of the four port-cities show that ships contribute between 11.7% and 31.0% of the total PM emissions being a source locally comparable with road traffic (ranging between 11.8% and 26.6%). The source apportionment using the receptor model PMF showed and oil combustion source (that includes ship emissions), characterized by V and Ni, in Brindisi, Venice and Rijeka with V/Ni ratio ranging between 1.4 and 4.2 indicating local differences in chemical profiles of the emissions. The V concentrations were used to evaluate the contributions of primary ship emissions to PM (Agrawal et al., 2009) that resulted between 1.3% and 2.8%. The contribution to secondary sulphate was 11% of PM2.5 in Brindisi (Cesari et al., 2014). The analysis of high-temporal resolution measurements taken near the harbour areas of Venice, Patras and Brindisi showed a contribution of ship emissions to PM2.5 varying between 3.5% and 7.4%. The relative contribution to particle number concentrations (PNC) was larger at all sites (between 6% and 26%). This demonstrates that ship particulate missions include mainly small and ultrafine particles. The trend of the impact of passenger ships primary emissions to PM2.5 concentrations in Venice between 2007 and 2012 showed a decrease from 7% (+-1%) to 3.5% (+-1%) even if the gross tonnage of ship traffic increased in the same period by 47% (Contini et al., 2015). This was a consequence of the use of low-sulphur content fuels due to the application of local mitigation strategies and of the European Directive 2005/33/EC. The WRF-CAMx modeling system was applied over the Central and Eastern Mediterranean so as to identify the air quality impact of ship emissions. The zero-out modelling method was implemented involving model simulations performed while including and omitting the ship emissions. The results for both gaseous and particulate pollutant concentrations generally show a fairly good agreement with observations at the areas under study. Agrawal et al., 2009. Environmental Science and Technology 43, 5398-5402. Cesari et al., 2014. Science of the Total Environment 497-498, 392-400. Contini et al., 2015. Atmospheric Environment 102, 183-190. Viana et al., 2014. Atmospheric Environment 90, 96-105