379 research outputs found
More individual differences in language attainment: How much do adult native speakers of English know about passives and quantifiers?
This paper provides experimental evidence suggesting that there are considerable differences in native language attainment, and that these are at least partially attributable to individual speakers’ experience. Experiment 1 tested high academic attainment (hereafter, HAA) and low academic attainment (LAA) participants’ comprehension using a picture selection task. Test sentences comprised passives and two variants of the universal quantification construction. Active constructions were used as a control condition. HAA participants performed at ceiling in all conditions; LAA participants performed at ceiling only on actives. As predicted by usage-based accounts, the order of difficulty of the four sentence types mirrored their frequency. Experiment 2 tested whether the less-educated participants’ difficulties with these constructions are attributable to insufficient experience. After a screening test, low scoring participants were randomly assigned to two training groups. The passive training group were given a short training session on the passive construction; and the quantifier training group were trained on sentences with quantifiers. A series of post-training tests show that performance on the trained construction improved dramatically, and that the effect was long-lasting
Physicochemical properties and agglomeration parameters of biogas digestate with addition of calcium carbonate
ArticleThe aim of the work was to determine the physical properties of digestate from biogas
production - either with or without the addition of calcium carbonate and to determine the
parameters of its compaction. The material for research was obtained from an agricultural biogas
plant specialized in processing cattle manure, vegetable pomace, chicken manure and maize
silage. The parameters of compaction of digestate were experimentally determined and its net
calorific value was calculated based on the gross calorific value. Physical properties were
determined according to standards. The moisture content of liquid digestate was 96%. Mechanical
separation allowed to decrease the water content by 19% and addition of 20% of calcium
carbonate by 30%. It was found that digestate with addition of calcium carbonate is not suitable
to use for energy purposes, because of its low net calorific value (5.2–5.9 MJ kg-1), however it
can be used for fertilizer purposes in relation to its chemical composition. Without additives, the
net calorific value was 14.9 MJ kg-1
, but due to the high moisture content of the raw material it is
unprofitable to dry it and burn. On the other hand, it was proved that it is possible to obtain pellets
of appropriate density out of the digestate using 40 mm of the die height and 0.3 g of single
portion of the material
Multi-component gap solitons in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates
We model the nonlinear behaviour of spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs)
with repulsive spin-independent interactions and either ferromagnetic or
anti-ferromagnetic (polar) spin-dependent interactions, loaded into a
one-dimensional optical lattice potential. We show that both types of BECs
exhibit dynamical instabilities and may form spatially localized
multi-component structures. The localized states of the spinor matter waves
take the form of vector gap solitons and self-trapped waves that exist only
within gaps of the linear Bloch-wave band-gap spectrum. Of special interest are
the nonlinear localized states that do not exhibit a common spatial density
profile shared by all condensate components, and consequently cannot be
described by the single mode approximation (SMA), frequently employed within
the framework of the mean-field treatment. We show that the non-SMA states can
exhibits Josephson-like internal oscillations and self-magnetisation, i.e.
intrinsic precession of the local spin. Finally, we demonstrate that
non-stationary states of a spinor BEC in a lattice exhibit coherent undamped
spin-mixing dynamics, and that their controlled conversion into a stationary
state can be achieved by the application of an external magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure
Venture Capital and Business Angels and the Creation of Innovative Firms in Poland
The article also points out that conditions fostering further development of the described types of entrepreneurship and innovation financing and a dynamic environment generating innovative capacity should be created.W artykule zasygnalizowano również potrzebę kreowania uwarunkowań sprzyjających rozwojowi opisanych form finansowania przedsiębiorczości, innowacyjności i dynamicznego otoczenia generującego zdolności innowacyjne
Modeling and Simulation of Biomechanical Systems - An Orbital Cavity, a Pelvic Bone and Coupled DNA Bases
Morphological variation and sensitivity to frequency of forms among native speakers of Czech
This article looks at inter-speaker variation in two environments: the genitive and locative singular cases of masculine ‘hard inanimate’ nouns in Czech, using a large-scale survey of native speakers that used two tasks to test their preferences for certain forms (acceptability) and their choices (gap filling). Our hypothesis that such variation exists was upheld, but only within limited parameters. Most biographical data (age, gender, education) played no role in respondents’ choices or preferences. Their region of origin played a small but significant role, although not the one expected. Relating the two types of tasks to each other, we found that respondents’ use of the ratings scale did not correlate to their choice of forms, but their overall strength of preference for one form over another did correlate with their choices. Inter-speaker variation does thus go some way to explaining the persistent diversity in this paradigm and arguably may contribute to its maintenance
Health and Social Problems Associated with Recent Novel Psychoactive Substance (NPS) Use Amongst Marginalised, Nightlife and Online Users in Six European Countries
Discriminative characteristics of marginalised novel psychoactive users: A transnational study
New psychoactive substances (NPS) continue to be considered as a major public health concern in many European countries. The study was implemented within the framework of a transnational project of six European countries (Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal). Our aim here is to report on the distinct and differentiating characteristics of marginalised NPS users. Three subgroups of a total of 3023 adult NPS users (socially marginalised, night life, online community) were examined regarding their socio-demographic characteristics, substance use, and external motives towards NPS use. Poland and Hungary reported higher rates of NPS use in comparison to traditional controlled drugs. The external/contextual motives did not play a central role in the background of NPS use, the least important motives were alleged legality and non-detectability of these substances. Marginalised (defined as those accessing low threshold harm reduction services) users’ substance use patterns are different from the other two groups in terms of showing more intense and riskier drug use. The most important variables which contributed to be categorised as a marginalised NPS user were lower level education, being older, having an unfavourable labour market position and using drugs intravenously. Contextual motives did not play a decisive role in being categorised as a marginalised user when drug use pattern was controlled. These identified discriminative features of marginalised drug users should inform policy makers to develop and implement tailor-made interventions targeting this user group to successfully tackle the elevated public health concerns associated with NPS use
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