Intercultural encounters, among many values, serve as critical incidents that promote understanding, noticing and observing particular cultural as well as linguistic phenomena. Additionally, narrating intercultural encounters may activate the processes commonly associated with LA methodology, i.e.: description, exploration, languaging (understood as making meaning and shaping knowledge and experience through language use; Swain 2010), engagement and refl ection. The aim of this paper is to analyze Ss’ narratives of intercultural encounters and present the impact that these encounters had on students’ language awareness, language sensitivity and language use.

Thermodynamic optimizations of the ternary Fe-B-Mo system and its binary sub-system B-Mo are presented. The Fe-B-Mo description is then extended to the quaternary Fe-B-Cr-Mo system by assessing the ternary B-Cr-Mo system. The thermodynamic descriptions of the other binaries (Fe-B, Fe-Cr, Fe-Mo, B-Cr, and Cr-Mo) and the other ternaries (Fe-B-Cr and Fe-Cr-Mo) are taken from earlier studies. In this study, the adjustable parameters of the B-Mo, Fe-B-Mo, and B-Cr-Mo systems were optimized using the experimental thermodynamic and the phase equilibrium data from the literature. The solution phases of the system (liquid, bcc and fcc) are described with the substitutional solution model, and most borides are treated as stoichiometric phases or semistoichiometric phases, using a simple two-sublattice model for the latter. The system’s intermetallic phases, Chi, Mu, R, and Sigma (not dissolving boron) as well as boride M3B2, based on a formulation of (Cr,Fe)(Cr,Fe,Mo)2(B)2, are described with a three-sublattice model. Reasonable agreement is obtained between the calculated and measured phase equilibria in all four systems: B-Mo; ­Fe-B-Mo; B-Cr-Mo; and Fe-B-Cr-Mo.

The article discusses the dangers arising from construction disasters. This phenomenon is the most serious effect of the risk that may occur in construction. I presented this on the basis of an analysis of all construction disasters that have taken place in Poland in the last twenty years. I made a detailed analysis of the events that occurred during the maintenance of building facilities, taking into account the reasons for their occurrence and the effects they cause. The aim of this analysis is to identify areas of risk in order to eliminate the hazard and, as a consequence, take appropriate actions to counteract this type of events. Unfortunately, one should be aware that despite technical progress building disasters cannot be completely avoided in our surrounding, but one must use the knowledge acquired on this basis to minimize their number.

The article presents a numerical model of the concrete heat accumulator for solar heating systems. Model uses control volume finite element method with an explicit solution method for time integration. The use of an explicit method is an essential advantage in the simulation of time-dependent changes in temperature of the air at the accumulator inlet. The study compares the results of numerical model calculations of the accumulator heating with experimental measurements and with computational fluid dynamics modeling. The comparison shows a good correlation between the results of calculation using the model and the results of measurements.

Antarctic pearlwort ( Colobanthus quitensis ) is one of the flowering plant species considered native to maritime Antarctica. Although the species was intensively analyzed towards its morphological, anatomical and physiological adaptation to local environment, its genetic variability is still poorly studied. In the presented study, a recently developed retrotransposon−based DNA marker system (inter Primer Binding Site – iPBS) was applied to assess the genetic diversity and differentiation of C. quitensis populations from King George Island (South Shetland Islands, West Antarctic). A total of 143 scoreable bands were detected using 7 iPBS primers among 122 plant specimens representing 8 populations. 55 (38.5%) bands were found polymorphic, with an average of 14.3% polymorphic fragments per primer. Nine of all observed fragments were represented as a private bands deployed unevenly among populations. Low genetic diversity (on average H e = 0.040 and I = 0.061) and moderate population differentiation (F ST = 0.164) characterize the analyzed material. Clustering based on PCoA revealed, that the populations located on the edges of the study area diverge from the central populations. The pattern of population differentiation corresponds well with their geographic location and the characteristics of the sampling sites. Due to the character of iPBS markers, the observed genetic variability of populations may be explained by the genome rearrangements caused by mobilization of mobile genetic elements in the response to various stress factors. Additionally, this study demonstrates the usefulness of iPBS markers for genetic diversity studies in wild species.