The history of English spelling is an eventful one, from Old English with an almost one‑to‑one sound‑to‑spelling relationship, to Modern English, notorious for its sound‑to‑spelling unpredictability. In between lies a vast period characterised by immense spelling variability, reflecting the cumulative effect of dialectal variation and lack of uniformity, additionally compounded by the mode of text transmission in the manuscript culture, whose characteristics were adopted in a wholesale fashion into the culture of early print. In effect, early printed books present a rich kaleidoscope of spelling variants, which – not infrequently – co‑occur on the same page or even in the same line of a printed text. This paper addresses the issue of this variability with a view to measuring in mathematical terms the degree of internal spelling variation within a text and showing that much of the spelling variation is associated with compositors as agents in the printing process. The analysis of internal spelling variation is based on George Joye’s 1534 English translation of the Psalms printed in Antwerp and aims at identifying parts of the text which are similar or different in terms of spellings by applying cosine similarity measurements performed on individual quires of the publication.

This article provides a thorough description of a range of non-standard application cases in which EMC laboratories can be used other than those traditionally associated with this kind of facilities. The areas covered here include investigations of: wireless and radio systems (such as IoT and broadband radio systems) also that require ultra-high operational dynamic range, emulation of interference-free and/or heavilymultipath propagation environment, shielding effectiveness of cabinets and materials (i.e. thin, light and flexible as textiles as well as heavy and thick such as building construction elements).

The article presents a new approach to building a passenger rail traffic generation model. It uses data on the number of passengers at stations and railway stops obtained from the databases of operators on the rail transport market through the Office of Rail Transport – market regulator – combined with data on the model of the area around the station built based on population, number of beds, individual motorization and gross domestic product (GDP). This enabled analyzing the potential of railway traffic generation at a very detailed level. The article presents a methodology for building a passenger rail traffic generation model and verification of this model based on limited variables describing railway stations and stops as well as traffic zones and available statistical data. The model takes into account three segments of the railway market: regional, interregional and inter-agglomeration transport. The results of these analyzes can be used to increase the accuracy and the reliability of rail traffic models used in the analysis of transport networks.

The paper presents the results of taxonomical investigation of the genus Cladonia Hill ex P. Browne from King George Island . Individuals belonging to this lichen genus were studied using methods of classical herbarium taxonomy supported by chemical analysis. Fourteen species have been recognized in the study area, with C. asahinae J.W. Thomson being reported from King George Island for the first time, and C. cervicornis subsp. mawsonii reported as new for the South Shetland Islands. The occurrence of C. cariosa is confirmed for the Antarctic region. The diagnostic characters, ecology and important remarks referring to particular species are briefly presented. An updated key for identification of the species from King George Island and neighbouring islands of South Shetlands is included.

The article treats about a forgotten play Zaduszki (All Souls’ Day) by Stefan Grabiński, widely known as the author of fantastic literature and horror stories. The play Zaduszki consists of three parts: 1. Strzygoń. Klechda zaduszna; 2. W dzień zaduszny; 3. Sen Krysty. Misterium zaduszne. First of them is written in folk dialect. The second one, sometimes named „the longest one-act play ever staged in Polish theatre”, considers a problem of a fault and a punishment. The third one, similarly to the first one, presents folk beliefs in supernatural phenomena which take place on All Souls’ Day. Moreover, it partly resembles a mystery play. Although the trilogy got an unfavourable reception (it was shown only seven times in Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków), it may be considered as an ambitious attempt to match the heritage of Stanisław Wyspiański – according to Grabiński, the greatest authority in the field of theatre.

Treść artykułu stanowi historyczna analiza obecności, rozumienia i zasadności metafory żelaznej kurtyny w obszarze nauk społecznych. Po 1989 roku wydawać się mogło, iż upadek żelaznej kurtyny stracił na znaczeniu i metafora ta stała się martwa. Ponowne jej przywołanie przez Władymira Załęskiego w związku z wojną na Ukrainie skłoniło do ponownej analizy sensu, znaczenia i emocji z nią związanych. Kwestia tego, jak ta powszechnie znana metafora wpływała (i wpływa) na nasze rozumienie rzeczywistości i w jakim stopniu stanowi rzetelną kategorię analityczną jest przedmiotem refleksji.