The present article demonstrates that languages tend to contain dispersals – a subtype of conative calls used to chase animals – that are built around voiceless sibilants. This tendency is both quantitative (i.e., voiceless-sibilant dispersals are common across languages and in a single language) and qualitative (i.e., sibilants contribute very significantly to the phonetic substance of such dispersals). This fact, together with a range of formal similarities exhibited by voiceless-sibilant dispersals encapsulated by the pattern [kI/Uʃ] suggests that the presence of voiceless sibilants in dispersals is not arbitrary. Overall, voiceless-sibilant dispersals tend to comply with the general phonetic profile associated with the prototype of CACs and dispersals, postulated recently in scholarship, thus corroborating the validity of this prototype.

Vast research has sought to better understand the origins and development of rape myth beliefs given the problematic influence of such misconceptions throughout global societies and criminal justice pathways. The current research aims to build on this body of literature by examining the contribution that psychopathic personality traits (affective responsiveness, cognitive responsiveness, interpersonal manipulation, egocentricity) and emotional intelligence may have upon rape myth beliefs. Furthermore, this study will investigate the extent to which sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, education), and prior experience of sexual victimisation, contribute to variance in rape myth acceptance scores. In total 251 participants (M Age = 31.66) completed an online, self-report questionnaire which included contemporary measures of psychopathy and rape myth acceptance, never previously tested in combination. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicate that egocentricity, age, and gender were significantly associated with rape myth beliefs. Emotional intelligence, as well as affective and interpersonal traits of psychopathy, were not directly related with rape mythology. Findings are interpreted alongside previous research, where we suggest there is an urgent need for larger, nationally representative samples, systematically recruited from the general population to help clarify uncertainty in existing literature emerging from small-scale opportunistic datasets.

Developed within the frame of cognitive linguistics and cognitive science, the present paper argues that the wave-stream model is a more adequate manner of representing verbal grams in Biblical Hebrew than neat models built on discrete, binary and static categories. Taking as examples two Biblical Hebrew verbal grams (WAYYIQTOL and QATAL) and building on the empirical evidence concerning the senses conveyed by these two forms in the book of Genesis, the author demonstrates the following: a) Neat, binary, discrete and static models correspond to “folk” representations of reality; b) A more adequate representation, which preserves the complex nature of language and its components, is provided by the wave-stream model; c) The wave-stream model additionally suggests the psychological reality of the grams or their conceptualizations by speakers. As a result, the wave-stream model has both etic (language centric) and emic (psychological or human centric) dimensions, the latter being derived in a principled manner.

The present paper offers a more macroscopic and system-oriented analysis of the tense-taxis-aspect-mood (TTAM) semantics of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system developed within the framework of grammaticalization-based maps and cognitive linguistics. By combining the maps (i.e. qualitative compositions of senses) and waves (i.e. qualitative-quantitative complexes of senses) into higher-level dynamic modules, i.e. currents, and by explaining the global system in terms of such currents, the study designs a possible way of expansion of the semantic maps’ model from a gram-oriented analysis to a more systemic perspective. Accordingly, higher level properties of the sub-modules of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system are postulated, the environments of grams are expanded from their immediate setting (the adjacent waves on the stream) to other, more distant, regions of the verbal organization, and a tentative dynamic model of the entire Biblical Hebrew verbal system is formulated.

This article presents results of research concerning the possibility of reducing the level of toxic nitric oxides (NOx) emission to the atmosphere. The research has been conducted on DKVR 20-13, PTVM-50 and DE 25-14 gas boilers. The complex character of this issue requires individual consideration regarding each boiler configuration. Each case requires consideration of characteristics and details of all elements constituting the boiler-furnace unit. The main problem was to establish the reference level to which the reduction of nitric oxides occurs. The actual maximum emission of nitric oxides was assumed as this level. It was verified with the maximum allowable emission of nitric oxides for each boiler. Three levels of the potential influence of emission on the atmosphere have been taken into account. This experimental research allowed for proposing an effective method, which led to reducing nitric oxides emission by around 30%.

This is a second paper dealing with juvenile and little known Mesozoic gastropods from Siberia and the Timan region. This part contains description of gastropods belonging to Neogastropoda and Heterobranchia. Described are 16 species, five of them are new. They are: Sulcoactaeon uralicus, S. timanicus, S. bojarkensis (Bullinidae), Vasjugania vasjuganensis (Acteonidae), and Biplica siberica (Ringiculidae). The new genus Vasjugania (Acteonidae) is proposed. Eight species are left in the open nomenclature. The protoconch of Siberian Khetella, illustrated here for the first time, suggests that this genus belongs to Purpurinidae and the whole family is a possible stem group for the Neogastropoda. Apart from Khetella the Siberian fauna seems to be of cosmopolitan character having common elements both with Europe and North America.

The known standard recursion methods of computing the full normalized associated Legendre functions do not give the necessary precision due to application of IEEE754-2008 standard, that creates a problems of underflow and overflow. The analysis of the problems of the calculation of the Legendre functions shows that the problem underflow is not dangerous by itself. The main problem that generates the gross errors in its calculations is the problem named the effect of “absolute zero”. Once appeared in a forward column recursion, “absolute zero” converts to zero all values which are multiplied by it, regardless of whether a zero result of multiplication is real or not. Three methods of calculating of the Legendre functions, that removed the effect of “absolute zero” from the calculations are discussed here. These methods are also of interest because they almost have no limit for the maximum degree of Legendre functions. It is shown that the numerical accuracy of these three methods is the same. But, the CPU calculation time of the Legendre functions with Fukushima method is minimal. Therefore, the Fukushima method is the best. Its main advantage is computational speed which is an important factor in calculation of such large amount of the Legendre functions as 2 401 336 for EGM2008