The State of Air in the European Union and Quality of Europeans’ Life

This article aims to present the impact of air pollution on the quality of life of EU residents. With the aid of institutional-legal and statistical analysis an attempt has been undertaken to answer the following research questions: 1) negative concentrations whose pollution exceeds norms set out at EU levels, 2) causes of above-norm pollution concentrations and 3) impact of pollution on the health of Europeans. During the conducted research it was demonstrated that the quality of life of Europeans is being lowered by a continuing above-norm concentration of air pollution whose exposure is related to people feeling worse, numerous diseases related to the breathing system, circulation, nervous and even reproductive system as well as increased death rate and shortening of life expectancy. The estimated number of premature deaths in 2014 resulting from exposure to fine dust, ozone and carbon dioxide in the EU amounted to 487,600. As the investigation shows, the best quality of life, taking into consideration air quality, is afforded by Finland, Ireland and Sweden

Die neueren Wanderungsbewegungen polnischer Arbeitskräfte: Eine Dokumentation

Seit dem 19.Jahrhundert ist Polen ein Auswanderungsland. Zwischen 1870 und 1914 verließen Polen auf der Suche nach Brot und Arbeit über fünf Millionen Menschen, allein zwei Millionen in Richtung Amerika. Zwischen 1918 und 1939 wanderten nochmals 1,2 Millionen Menschen aus. Hauptrichtungen der Emigration waren die Vereinigten Staaten, Kanada, Argentinien, Brasilien und West-Europa. Zwischen 1944 und 1950 wanderten zwar 7,9 Millionen Menschen über die polnischen Grenzen, per saldo wanderten aber nur 190 000 Personen aus. Diese Bewegungen hatten nicht so sehr wirtschaftliche, sondern vor allem politische, nationale und familiäre Gründe. Erst 1956 beginnt wieder eine neue Welle der Emigration. Bis 1960 wandern im Rahmen der »Familienzusammenführung« 360 000 Menschen hauptsächlich in die BRD aus. Dem steht eine Einwanderung von 250 000 Personen vor allem aus der UdSSR gegenüber. In den beiden Jahrzehnten von 1961 bis 1970 und 1971 bis 1980 verlassen jeweils ca. 225 000 Menschen das Land

Obwód Kaliningradzki a bezpieczeństwo Polski

The Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation (RF) is significant for the security of Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic countries. This westernmost region of Russia is surrounded by EU and NATO states and does not have a direct contact with the RF. Considerable military potential is concentrated in this region, including medium and long range missile launchers that may be armed with nuclear warheads. The government in Moscow treats the military potential of this region as an element of pressure to influence public opinion and discourage the Polish authorities from building the US anti-missile system in Poland.Obwód Kaliningradzki Federacji Rosyjskiej (FR) odgrywa istotną rolę dla bezpieczeństwa Polski, Litwy oraz państw regionu Morza Bałtyckiego. Ten najbardziej na zachód wysunięty obszar Rosji otoczony jest państwami UE i NATO i nie posiada bezpośredniej styczności z FR. Na obszarze obwodu zgromadzone są pokaźne siły zbrojne, w tym wyrzutnie rakiet średniego i dalekiego zasięgu, które mogą być uzbrojone w głowice atomowe. Władze w Moskwie traktują potencjał wojskowy zgromadzony w obwodzie jako element nacisku na opinię publiczną, tak by zniechęcić władze RP do budowy na terytorium Polski amerykańskiej tarczy antyrakietowej

Étude des problèmes de prononciation des consonnes fricatives du français par des apprenants thaïlandais et propositions de correction phonétique

This research is mainly related with contrastive studies. The objectives of this study are to examine the interference of Thai sounds in French fricative consonants. In fact, these interferences influence significantly perception and pronunciation of French fricatives among Thai students. From the analysis of French and Thai phonological systems regarding fricative consonants, the researcher could identify main difficulties of pronunciation of French fricatives faced by Thai students. This phenomenon was assessed by using an identification test with automatic speech recognition system (Kaldi). This study, at last, shows the result of the test and proposes possible phonetic corrections for Thai students. We hope that the comparative study of these two languages can help teachers of French as a foreign language (FLE) in Thailand to apply necessary methods in order to help students with their difficulties.Cette recherche se situe dans le cadre des études contrastives. Son objectif est d’examiner et de confirmer l'existence des interférences des consonnes fricatives entre le français et le thaï ; ces interférences influencent en effet de façon assez importante la perception et la prononciation des consonnes fricatives du français chez les apprenants thaïlandais. À partir d’une analyse comparative entre les systèmes phonologiques des consonnes fricatives du français et du thaï, nous avons répertorié les principales difficultés de prononciation des consonnes fricatives chez les apprenants thaïlandais. Nous avons évalué ce phénomène à l’aide d’un test d’identification auprès d’un système de reconnaissance automatique de parole (Kaldi). Nous espérons que les analyses phonologiques des deux langues, les résultats de la recherche et les propositions de correction phonétique pour les apprenants thaïlandais pourraient aider les enseignants de français en Thaïlande à appliquer les méthodes adéquates face aux difficultés des Thaïlandais

Przemiany demograficzne i procesy migracyjne w Obwodzie Kaliningradzkim Federacji Rosyjskiej

Contemporary Russia is going through the most severe demographic crisis in her history. The situation is particularly adverse in the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation, which borders Poland. Since 2007, its authorities have been implementing a special program to repatriate Russians from abroad. Up to 2012, 19,000 Russian settlers came to the Oblast, while the authorities had expected over 300,000 individuals. The reasons are deemed to be the relatively low earnings in the Oblast and its being an exclave.Contemporary Russia is going through the most severe demographic crisis in her history. The situation is particularly adverse in the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation, which borders Poland. Since 2007, its authorities have been implementing a special program to repatriate Russians from abroad. Up to 2012, 19,000 Russian settlers came to the Oblast, while the authorities had expected over 300,000 individuals. The reasons are deemed to be the relatively low earnings in the Oblast and its being an exclave

Polnisches Ostpreußen – Depositär oder Nachfolger der deutschen Vergangenheit?

Changes in the political power and the population in the southern part of East Prussia, whichwent to Poland in 1945, led to the removal of traces of the German past in the region, and toits Polonisation immediately after the war. After discussing the de-Germanisation policy, typicalof the postwar period, the removal of symbols of ‘German power’, the elimination of the‘German spirit’, and trends in the adaptation of the new population to the cultural landscape,the author raises the question how relations between the population of the territory and theGerman heritage and past changed after 1989. The issue is considered in the context of thediscussion among intellectuals in Poland as to what the relationship with the German heritageshould be. The answer is based on the results of a sociological poll carried out by the Institutefor Western Affairs in 2001.Key words: East Prussia, Warmia and Masuria, cultural heritage, relations with the ‘German’heritage. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ahuk.v30i0.118

Water Deficit as a Security Threat

The aim of the article is to explain the key definitions connected with water security and to analyse state relations in the context of water issues. In this context therefore water can be seen to be a precious resource because there it has no substitute. Thus the lack of water security is emerging as one of the major barriers for economic and social growth in developing countries and a source of domestic conflicts. On the other hand, water-related events might result in international cooperation, as Kofi Annan noticed during the celebration of World Water Day: “Fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict. [...] If all world’s peoples work together, a secure and sustainable water future can be ours”. What is certain, in the near future any environmental security planning will have to take into consideration the prime issue of water security

Getting too personal(ized): The importance of feature choice in online adaptive algorithms

Digital educational technologies offer the potential to customize students' experiences and learn what works for which students, enhancing the technology as more students interact with it. We consider whether and when attempting to discover how to personalize has a cost, such as if the adaptation to personal information can delay the adoption of policies that benefit all students. We explore these issues in the context of using multi-armed bandit (MAB) algorithms to learn a policy for what version of an educational technology to present to each student, varying the relation between student characteristics and outcomes and also whether the algorithm is aware of these characteristics. Through simulations, we demonstrate that the inclusion of student characteristics for personalization can be beneficial when those characteristics are needed to learn the optimal action. In other scenarios, this inclusion decreases performance of the bandit algorithm. Moreover, including unneeded student characteristics can systematically disadvantage students with less common values for these characteristics. Our simulations do however suggest that real-time personalization will be helpful in particular real-world scenarios, and we illustrate this through case studies using existing experimental results in ASSISTments. Overall, our simulations show that adaptive personalization in educational technologies can be a double-edged sword: real-time adaptation improves student experiences in some contexts, but the slower adaptation and potentially discriminatory results mean that a more personalized model is not always beneficial.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Correction to the original article published at https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED607907.pdf : The Thompson sampling algorithm in the original article overweights older data resulting in an overexploitative multi-armed bandit. This arxiv version uses a normal Thompson sampling algorith

Chronology of Late Saalian and Middle Weichselian episodes of ice-free lacustrine sedimentation recorded in the Arumetsa section, southwestern Estonia

The information obtained from a 21 m thick open-pit section of silty-clayey sediments in the Arumetsa bedrock valley, southwestern Estonia, revealed that lacustrine to glaciolacustrine sedimentation at the site started prior to 151 ka ago and lasted to about the end of marine isotope stage 6 (MIS6) at 130 ka. Further down from the 151 ka age-level to the bottom of the buried valley there are ca 60 m of lacustrine fine-grained sediments, the age of which remains still unclear. The Late Saalian sediments at Arumetsa are discordantly overlain by Middle Weichselian clay, silt and sand, deposited between ca 44 and 37 ka ago. As testified by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages, and pollen and diatom record, the Middle Weichselian fine-grained sediments contain redeposited Holsteinian but no Eemian pollen, and have not been fully bleached during deposition. Chronological, microfossil and sedimentological data show two hiatuses in the Arumetsa section. The first hiatus has left no sedimentary evidence for the period between ca 130 ka and 44 ka ago (MIS5 to older half of MIS3). The younger hiatus from ca 37 to 22 ka occurs between the Middle Weichselian lacustrine silt and the Late Weichselian till layer on top of the section