Low dispersion integrated michelson interferometer on silicon on insulator for optical coherence tomography

We present an integrated silicon Michelson interferometer for OCT fabricated with wafer scale deep UV lithography. Silicon waveguides of the interferometer are designed with GVD less than 50 ps/nm. km. The footprint of the device is 0.5 mm x 3 mm. The effect of sidewall roughness of silicon waveguides has been observed, possible solutions are discussed

Issues in the Language Policy of the European Union. Motivation as a Key Factor in Promoting Language Learning

As motivation has been identified by the EU High Level Group on Multilingualism as the key factor in promoting language education, the author, herself member of HLGM, discusses a variety of approaches to motivation and presents guidelines for the promotional activity at national, regional and school levels, concentrating on its aims and procedures, identifying age groups and motives to be targeted, as well as arguments and strategies to be used in the process of eliciting and sustaining learners' motivation to study foreign languages

Mycena romagnesiana collected in the Bieszczady Mts.

Mycena romagnesiana described by Maas Geesteranus (1991), is reported from two localities in Bieszczady Mts (SE Poland). Macro- and micromorphological description supplemented with the author’s observations of the dry material and its colour picture are given. Drawings of microcharacters and distribution map of species in Europe are provided

Dilemmas in language teaching and teacher education

The article analyses disappointing data concerning the status of the teaching profession and teachers’ self-perceptions revealed in recent TALIS, EURYDICE and EUROSTAT reports. Reasons for teachers’ difficulties are then analysed vis-à-vis criteria for the evaluation of quality in education. Emphasis is given to decision-making processes and the type of dilemmas encountered by teacher trainers working in the academic context and foreign language teachers employed in school systems of EU member states. Implications for educational policies of the future are sought and an attempt is made to examine the role of enabling institutions such as the Council of Europe and the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz

Issues in educational evaluation: Evaluating small scale projects

The aim of the present article is to analyze similarities and differences between research and evaluation, present educational evaluation in a historical perspective, offer a typology of educational evaluation, outline new needs in the field of FLT evaluation and formulate conclusions in the form of user-friendly checklists for the evaluation of small-scale projects

Feedback in language learning and teaching

The text analyzes routes and ways of processing feedback as well as discusses the most important psychological, pedagogical and linguistic factors influencing the effectiveness of feedback in developing learner autonomy and determining its impact on cognitive and affective processes in the learner. It also sets out to assess the place of feedback in the evaluation of educational attainment and to identify ways of promoting so-called formative feedback, both on the school-level and in the language classroom. Implications for developing teacher autonomy via pre- and in-service teacher education are also sough

Post-Tridentine liturgical books for the Polish Church : printed chant books from Kraków and their contexts

Post-Tridentine liturgical books printed in Poland have not attracted much attention from book historians. However, given their special, sacred, and confessionally unifying status, they provide interesting material for comparative study of printing in the large European cities (e.g., Antwerp, Venice), and smaller provincial centers such as Krakow. The paper presents as products of the printing press the Psalterium, Antiphonarium and Graduale Romanum printed in Krakow in 1599-1600 by Andrzej Piotrkowczyk as well as later editions of these works. The decision to commission them in a local print shop rather than abroad came after prolonged debates within the Polish Catholic hierarchy. Materials used by the printer (paper, type, ornaments etc.) and the results he achieved (typography) are analysed at the backdrop of European printing and related to more general problems involved with the production of complex and voluminous books in the economic and cultural realities of an Eastern European city

Teacher language awareness or language teacher awareness?

The paper outlines the development of the concept of awareness across various academic disciplines and examines terminological problems involved in analysing human cognition. Approaches to awareness in philosophy, developmental psychology, neuroscience and linguistics are discussed, as well as the career of the concept in Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching (SLA / FLT). Learners’ and teachers’ language awareness is presented as a basis for the enrichment of the awareness concept by a number of psychological, sociological and pedagogical factors. Special attention is given to neglected aspects of teacher awareness, such as awareness of learners’ thinking processes and teachers’ awareness of classroom decision-making. Implications are sought for pre-service teacher education.The paper outlines the development of the concept of awareness across various academic disciplines and examines terminological problems involved in analysing human cognition. Approaches to awareness in philosophy, developmental psychology, neuroscience and linguistics are discussed, as well as the career of the concept in Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching (SLA / FLT). Learners’ and teachers’ language awareness is presented as a basis for the enrichment of the awareness concept by a number of psychological, sociological and pedagogical factors. Special attention is given to neglected aspects of teacher awareness, such as awareness of learners’ thinking processes and teachers’ awareness of classroom decision-making. Implications are sought for pre-service teacher education.The paper outlines the development of the concept of awareness across various academic disciplines and examines terminological problems involved in analysing human cognition. Approaches to awareness in philosophy, developmental psychology, neuroscience and linguistics are discussed, as well as the career of the concept in Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching (SLA / FLT). Learners’ and teachers’ language awareness is presented as a basis for the enrichment of the awareness concept by a number of psychological, sociological and pedagogical factors. Special attention is given to neglected aspects of teacher awareness, such as awareness of learners’ thinking processes and teachers’ awareness of classroom decision-making. Implications are sought for pre-service teacher education.The paper outlines the development of the concept of awareness across various academic disciplines and examines terminological problems involved in analysing human cognition. Approaches to awareness in philosophy, developmental psychology, neuroscience and linguistics are discussed, as well as the career of the concept in Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching (SLA / FLT). Learners’ and teachers’ language awareness is presented as a basis for the enrichment of the awareness concept by a number of psychological, sociological and pedagogical factors. Special attention is given to neglected aspects of teacher awareness, such as awareness of learners’ thinking processes and teachers’ awareness of classroom decision-making. Implications are sought for pre-service teacher education

Light collection from scattering media in a silicon photonics integrated circuit

We present a silicon photonics integrated circuit to efficiently couple scattered light into a single mode waveguide. By modulating the phase of N light-capturing elements, the collection efficiency can be increased by a factor N