Questionnaire-based pronunciation studies: Italian, Spanish and polish students’ views on their English pronunciation

Rather than casting new light on teaching pronunciation, the outcome of this study is consistent with the findings of other research on foreign students’ choice of preferred pronunciation model, which is undeniably native rather than foreign-accented

Autonomous behaviour in tangible user interfaces as a design factor

PhD ThesisThis thesis critically explores the design space of autonomous and actuated artefacts, considering how autonomous behaviours in interactive technologies might shape and influence users’ interactions and behaviours. Since the invention of gearing and clockwork, mechanical devices were built that both fascinate and intrigue people through their mechanical actuation. There seems to be something magical about moving devices, which draws our attention and piques our interest. Progress in the development of computational hardware is allowing increasingly complex commercial products to be available to broad consumer-markets. New technologies emerge very fast, ranging from personal devices with strong computational power to diverse user interfaces, like multi-touch surfaces or gestural input devices. Electronic systems are becoming smaller and smarter, as they comprise sensing, controlling and actuation. From this, new opportunities arise in integrating more sensors and technology in physical objects. These trends raise some specific questions around the impacts smarter systems might have on people and interaction: how do people perceive smart systems that are tangible and what implications does this perception have for user interface design? Which design opportunities are opened up through smart systems? There is a tendency in humans to attribute life-like qualities onto non-animate objects, which evokes social behaviour towards technology. Maybe it would be possible to build user interfaces that utilise such behaviours to motivate people towards frequent use, or even motivate them to build relationships in which the users care for their devices. Their aim is not to increase the efficiency of user interfaces, but to create interfaces that are more engaging to interact with and excite people to bond with these tangible objects. This thesis sets out to explore autonomous behaviours in physical interfaces. More specifically, I am interested in the factors that make a user interpret an interface as autonomous. Through a review of literature concerned with animated objects, autonomous technology and robots, I have mapped out a design space exploring the factors that are important in developing autonomous interfaces. Building on this and utilising workshops conducted with other researchers, I have vi developed a framework that identifies key elements for the design of Tangible Autonomous Interfaces (TAIs). To validate the dimensions of this framework and to further unpack the impacts on users of interacting with autonomous interfaces I have adopted a ‘research through design’ approach. I have iteratively designed and realised a series of autonomous, interactive prototypes, which demonstrate the potential of such interfaces to establish themselves as social entities. Through two deeper case studies, consisting of an actuated helium balloon and desktop lamp, I provide insights into how autonomy could be implemented into Tangible User Interfaces. My studies revealed that through their autonomous behaviour (guided by the framework) these devices established themselves, in interaction, as social entities. They furthermore turned out to be acceptable, especially if people were able to find a purpose for them in their lives. This thesis closes with a discussion of findings and provides specific implications for design of autonomous behaviour in interfaces

Entrepreneurship as a Key Competence - Implications for the Education Process in Poland

The ever escalating pace of civilizational changes in the social and economic fields, as well as in science and technology triggers a change of employers’ expectations with respect to employees’ competences. Thus, a need has arisen for enterprising and creative employees with the ability of critical and at the same time, creative thinking, with high interpersonal competence, who can obtain and effectively process information and based on that make decisions, and who are real team players, understanding the need for lifelong learning. Such competences have a significant impact on an independent, responsible and auspicious life. The changes led the European Parliament and the Council to adopt a key competence framework to which entrepreneurship and initiative have been, among other competences, classified.The aim of the article is to define conditions related to creation of entrepreneurship as a key competence in the process of education in Poland, both among students of upper-secondary schools and tertiary education students. The article uses the findings of research conducted in Poland regarding evaluation of acquired key competences and identification of competences and qualifications sought by employers.

Polarization transfer solid-state NMR for studying soft matter: From surfactants to the stratum corneum

The work presented in this thesis is dedicated to theoretical development, experimental testing and application of polarization transfer solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (PT ssNMR). PT ssNMR is an analytical tool which provides detailed information about molecular mobility in model or simple soft matter systems at the low water content regime, enabling the creation of phase diagrams. Soft matter encompasses not only every-day-use materials, such as medical formulations and washing powders, but also a large variety of biological tissue, for example the stratum corneum (SC). It is useful to characterize molecular mobility at varying conditions, because changing temperature or water content affects macroscopic material properties, for instance permeability, flexibility and toughness. Furthermore, PT ssNMR enables recognition and qualitative description of the coexisting solid- and liquid crystalline phases. Such two-phase coexistence regions dominate the phase diagrams at low water contents, especially in systems equilibrated by contact with humid atmosphere, such as washing powder. In the investigation of complex materials, for example SC, the outer layer of the skin, PT ssNMR provides molecular insight into the mobility of different components, protein and lipid in the case of SC, thus helping to understand and explain properties of the skin barrier

English Spelling Among the Top Priorities in Pronunciation Teaching: Polglish Local Versus Global(ised) Errors in the Production and Perception of Words Commonly Mispronounced

The results of the study confirm the necessity for explicit instruction on the regularity rather than irregularity of English spelling in order to eradicate globalised and ‘either-or’ pronunciation errors in the speech of students. The avoidable globalised errors which have turned out to be the most numerous in a production task include such areas of English phonotactics as: the letters and , ‘mute consonant letters’, ‘isolated errors’ and two categories related to the reduction of unstressed syllables: ‘reduce the vowel in stress-adjacent syllables and in syllables following the stressed one to /ə/ or /ɪ/’ and ‘reduce , , and in nouns and adjectives.’ The hope is also expressed that once introducing spelling-to-sound relations becomes a routine procedure in pronunciation training, the strain on part of the students of memorizing a list of true local errors, phonetically challenging pronunciation exceptions, will be reduced to the absolute minimum

Back to Orthoepia – Spelling in Pronunciation Instruction: “Words Commonly Mispronounced” by Learners of Six L1s

This is a continuation of Nowacka’s (2016) study on the importance of local and global errors and spelling in pronunciation instruction. Unlike in the previous research that focused on the performance of Polish learners only, respondents of six different nationalities are included, in search of some cross-national universals or absence of them. This study seeks to answer the following questions: whether there is a need to focus on spelling in a pronunciation course with learners representing six different L1s and if this is the case which graphophonemic / phonotactic rules of English should be explicitly taught to all of these learners and which ones might be L1 specific only. The intention is also to empirically confirm the existence of local errors in the performance of around 240 speakers and 50 more listeners, constituting 291 listeners of six nationalities (Kazakh, Malaysian, Polish, Turkish, Tajik and Ukrainian) and to confirm the usefulness of memorizing Sobkowiak’s (1996) ‘Words Commonly Mispronounced’ even for learners of different L1s

Interferencje w procesie tworzenia polskiej terminologii glottodydaktycznej

Zadanie pt. Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę

Divalent Metal Organic Frameworks as Heterogeneous Oxidation Catalysts

[ES] Se ha desarrollado un método de síntesis "verde" de compuestos metal orgánicos en medio acuoso, a temperatura y presión ambientes, fácilmente escalable y con tiempos de cristalización muy cortos (10 min). El método se ha aplicado con éxito a la síntesis de trimesatos de metales divalentes isoreticulares y con fórmula general M3(BTC)2·12 H2O (M = Ni2+, Co2+, Cu2+ y Zn2+; BTC = trimesato). La estructura de estos materiales presenta dos tipos de centros metálicos ("puente" y "ter-minales") en proporción 2 a 1, ambos con coordinación octaédrica y unidos a 4 moléculas de H2O y a dos oxígenos carboxilato del ligando. Usando este método de síntesis, se han preparado también series de compuestos bimetálicos isoreticulares de Co-Ni y Co-Zn en todo el rango de concentraciones, así como compues-tos de Mn-Ni con una concentración máxima de Mn2+ del 50%. Mediante la combinación de difracción de rayos X (en polvo y de monocristal) y microscopía EDX/SEM se ha demostrado que los compuestos bimetálicos forman verdaderas disoluciones sólidas (no meras mezclas de fases) y que los iones metálicos se dis-tribuyen homogéneamente en todo el cristal. Además, el análisis detallado de la variación de los parámetros de celda con la composición en compuestos Co-Ni y Co-Zn aporta fuertes evidencias de que los iones Co2+ ocupan preferentemente las posiciones "terminales". Se ha evaluado la actividad de los compuestos preparados como catalizadores para la oxidación aeróbica de cumeno (CM) a cumeno hidroperóxido (CHP). El com-puesto monometálico de Co2+, Co-BTC, presentó una elevada actividad, aunque la selectividad a CHP obtenida fue relativamente baja (69%), ya que los iones Co2+ catalizan también la descomposición del CHP formado. Una buena estrategia para optimizar esta selectividad consistió en aislar los iones Co2+ en una matriz de Ni-BTC (que es inerte tanto para la oxidación de CM como para la descomposición de CHP). Así, al disminuir la concentración de iones Co2+ en compuestos bimetálicos Co-Ni se observó un aumento de la selectividad a CHP de hasta el 91% para el material con un 5% de Co. Se ha calculado que estadísticamente el 73% de los iones Co2+ en este material se encuentran aislados, por lo que la des-composición/sobreoxidación del CHP se ve muy limitada. Usando una variación del método de síntesis, se han obtenido también compuestos isoreticulares de Co2+ en los que los ligandos trimesato se han reemplazado parcialmente por ligandos isoftálico o 5-aminoisoftálico. Al utilizar estos com-puestos como catalizadores para la oxidación aeróbica de CM, se ha observado que la introducción de este segundo ligando (y en particular del 5-aminoisoftálico) en la red metal-orgánica facilita la descomposición del CHP formado y aumenta la selectividad final a 2-fenil-2-propanol (PP). Esto se ha atribuido a la creación de defectos puntuales en la red del material, que presentan una mayor actividad para la descomposición de CHP. Siguiendo con la oxidación de CM como reacción modelo, se ha evaluado la actividad catalítica de compuestos isoreticulares de cobalto con ligandos bispirazolato funcionalizados con distintos grupos (CoBPZ, CoBPZ-NO2 y CoBPZ-NH2). En este caso se ha observado una clara influencia del ligando utilizado sobre la acti-vidad catalítica y la selectividad a CHP o PP del material. Mientras que el Co-BPZ presenta una baja conversión de CM y una elevada selectividad a CHP, Co-BPZ-NH2 presenta las características opuestas: una elevada velocidad de reacción pero una baja selectividad a CHP. En este último caso, el producto mayoritario forma-do es el PP. Por último, el estudio de MOFs de cationes divalentes como catalizadores de oxidación se ha completado con una reacción de síntesis de quinazolina mediante acoplamiento oxidativo de bencilamina y 2-aminoacetofenona usando TBHP co-mo oxidante. Como catalizadores para esta reacción se ha utilizado el trimesato de[CA] S'ha desenvolupat un mètode de síntesi "verda" de compostos metall orgànics en medi aquós, a temperatura i pressió ambients, fàcilment escalable i amb temps de cristal·lització molt curts (10 min). El mètode s'ha aplicat amb èxit a la síntesi de trimesats de metalls divalents isoreticular i amb fórmula general M3(BTC)2·12 H2O (M = Ni2+, Co2+, Cu2+ y Zn2+; BTC = trimesat). L'estructura d'aquests materials presenta dos tipus de centres metàl·lics ("pon" i "terminals") en una proporció de 2 a 1, ambdós amb coordinació octaèdrica i units a 4 molècules d'aigua i a 2 oxígens carboxilat del lligand. Emprant aquest mètode de síntesi, s'han preparat també sèries de compostos bimetàl·lics isoreticular de Co-Ni i Co-Zn en tot el rang de concentracions, així com compostos de Mn-Ni amb una concentració màxima de Mn2+ del 50%. Mitjançant l'ús combinat de difracció de raigs X (en pols i de monocristall) i microscòpia EDX/SEM s'ha demostrat que els compostos bimetàl·lics formen vertaderes dissolucions sòlides (no simples mescles de fase) i que els ions metàl·lics es distribueixen homogèniament en tot el cristall. A més, l'anàlisi detallat de la variació dels paràmetres de cel·la amb la composició de compostos Co-Ni i Co-Zn aporta fortes evidències de que els ions Co2+ ocupen preferentment les posicions "terminals". S'ha avaluat l'activitat dels compostos preparats com a catalitzador per a l'oxidació aeròbica de cumè (CM) a cumè hidroperòxid (CHP). El compost monometàl·lic de Co2+, Co-BTC, presenta una elevada activitat, encara que la selectivitat a CHP obtinguda és relativament baixa (69%), ja que els ions Co2+ catalitzen també la descomposició del CHP format. Una bona estratègia per optimitzar aquesta selectivitat consisteix en aïllar els ions Co2+ en una matriu de Ni-BTC (que és inert tant per a l'oxidació de CM com per a la descomposició de CHP). Així, a mesura que disminueix la concentració d'ions Co2+ en compostos bimetàl·lics Co-Ni s'observa un augment de la selectivitat a CHP de fins el 91% per al material amb un 5% de cobalt. S'ha calculat que estadísticament el 73% dels ions Co2+ d'aquest material es troben aïllats, de manera que la descomposició/sobreoxidació del CHP es veu molt limitada. Emprant una variació del mètode de síntesi, s'han obtingut també compostosisoreticulars de Co2+ en els que els lligands trimesat s'han reemplaçat parcialment per lligands isoftàlic o 5-aminoisoftàlic. Quan aquest compostos s'usen com a catalitzadors per a l'oxidació aeròbica de CM, sobserva que la introducció d'aquest segon lligand (i en particular del 5-aminoisoftàlic) en la xarxa metallorgànica es facilita la descomposició del CHP format i augmenta la selectivitat final a 2-fenil-2-propanol (PP). Això s'ha atribuït a la creació de defectes puntuals en la xarxa del material, que presenten una major activitat per a la descomposició del CHP. Seguint amb l'oxidació de CM com a reacció model, s'ha avaluat l'activitat catalítica de compostosisoreticulars de cobalt amb lligands bispirazolat funcionalitzats amb distints grups (CoBPZ, CoBPZ-NO2 i CoBPZ-NH2). En aquest cas s'ha observat una clara influència del lligand utilitzat sobre l'activitat catalítica i la selectivitat a CHP o PP del material. Mentre que el CoBPZ presenta una baixa conversió de CM i una elevada selectivitat a CHP, CoBPZ-NH2 presenta les característiques oposades: una elevada velocitat de reacció però una baixa selectivitat a CHP. En aquest últim cas, el producte majoritari format és el PP. Per últim, l'estudi de MOFs amb cations divalent como a catalitzadors d'oxidació s'ha completat amb una reacció de síntesi de quinazolina mitjançant acoblament oxidatiu de benzilamina i 2-aminoacetofenona emprant TBHP como a oxidant. Com a catalitzadors per aquesta reacció s'ha utilitzat el trimesat de coure, HKUST-1, així com materials isoreticular amb lligands mixtes obtinguts reemplaçant pa[EN] A "green" synthesis method has been developed for the preparation of metal organic frameworks in aqueous media, which is easily scalable, at room tempera-ture, ambient pressure and very short crystallization times (10 min). This method has been successfully applied to the synthesis of isoreticular divalent metal trimesates of general formula M3(BTC)2·12 H2O (M = Ni2+, Co2+, Cu2+ y Zn2+; BTC = trimesate). The structure of these compounds features two types of metal centers ("bridging" and "terminal") in a 2 to 1 ratio, both with octahedral coordina-tion and linked to 4 water molecules and 2 carboxylate oxygens of the ligand. Using this method, two series of bimetallic isoreticular compounds of Co-Ni and Co-Zn have also been prepared in all range of compositions, as well as bimetallic Mn-Ni compounds up to a maximum concentration of 50% of Mn2+. A combined X-ray diffraction (powder and single crystal) and EDX/SEM has shown that these bimetallic compounds form true solid solutions (not simple mixture of phases) and that both ions distribute homogeneously throughout the crystal. A detailed analysis of the variation of cell parameters with the composition strongly sug-gests that Co2+ ions occupy preferentially the "terminal" positions of the frame-work. The materials obtained with the above method have been evaluated as catalysts for the aerobic oxidation of cumene (CM) to cumene hydroperoxide (CHO). The monometallic Co2+ compound, Co-BTC, showed a high catalytic activity, but a relatively low selectivity to CHP 69%), since the Co2+ ions can also catalyze the decomposition of the formed CHP. A good strategy to optimize the CHP selectivity consisted in isolating the Co2+ ions into a Ni-BTC (which is inert for both CM oxidation and CHP decomposition). In this way, as the concentration of Co2+ ions in the bimetallic Co-Ni compound decreases, a parallel increase of the CHP selec-tivity was observed, up to 91% for the material with 5% of Co. In this compound, 73% of the total Co2+ ions are statistically isolated, so that decomposi-tion/overoxidation of CHP is unlikely to occur. By using a variation of the above synthesis method, additional isoreticular Co2+ compounds have been prepared in which the trimesate ligands have been partially replaced by either isophthalic or 5-aminoisophthalic. When these compounds were used as catalysts for the aerobic oxidation of cumene, we observed that the introduction of this second ligand (in particular in the case of 5-aminoisophthalic) into the framework facilitates decomposition of CHP and in-creases the final selectivity to 2-phenyl-2-propanol (PP). This has been attributed to the progressive creation of point defects in the framework, having a higher activity for CHP decomposition. Following with the aerobic oxidation of CM as model reaction, we evaluated the catalytic activity of isoreticular cobalt compounds having bispyrazolate ligands bearing differnent functional groups (CoBPZ, CoBPZ-NO2 and CoBPZ-NH2). In this case, there is a clear influence of the ligand used on the catalytic activity of the material and the obtained selectivity to CHP or PP. While CoBPZ showed a low CM conversion and high CHP selectivity, the opposite properties are obtained for the Co-BPZ-NH2: i.e., a high reaction rate but a low CHP selectivity. In this latter case, the major product of the reaction was PP. Finally, the evaluation of divalent MOFs as oxidation catalysts has been complet-ed by addressing the synthesis of quinazoline through the oxidative coupling reaction of benzylamine and 2-aminoacetophenone using TBHP as oxidant. As catalysts for this reaction we have used a copper trimesate, HKUST-1, as well as isoreticular mixed-ligand compounds obtained by partially replacing trimesate ligands by 5-hydroxyisophthalic (OH-isophthalic).Nowacka, AE. (2019). Divalent Metal Organic Frameworks as Heterogeneous Oxidation Catalysts [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/129872TESI

Ukraine, Another point of view. OSW Point of View (Unspecified), February 2003

Ukraine is a difficult partner for the West, and recently, it has been perceived as an enfant terrible because of the Kolchuga affair. Western and Polish press describe Ukraine as an authoritarian regime plagued by an internal crisis or even threatened by destabilisation. This picture is certainly one-sided and oversimplified, and it fails to accurately present the reality of Ukraine. Apart from experiencing definitely adverse political developments, Ukraine has also been successful in some ways in terms of its internal and foreign policies and the economy. At the same time, certain processes take place among the Ukrainian elites, that might be difficult to capture in social surveys, but may become the starting point for the future modernisation and democratisation of the country. To realise that there are some favourable aspects to the changes occurring in Ukraine is not to recognise Ukraine as a country heading to democratisation and a market economy in the Western sense. Still, it is worthwhile to understand that the positive developments, even if isolated, do occur in Ukraine and that they could be strengthened by adequate policies of the Ukrainian authorities and the Western states