The article deals with the issue of the meaning of the Polish early education coursebooks for conservation/change in educational practices. It is the liberal and constructivist discourse to which the coursebook authors should refer (especially in the context of the present time and democracy) if these books are to become a tool of the prodevelopmental and emancipatory interest of both students and society. However, the research on Polish coursebooks for early education (grades I – III), show that this very condition has not been ful3 lled. In such a situation it is the German school coursebooks that might be inspiring because of their discursive background as well as of the methodological proposals and the range of content present in them. The article is also an attempt to reconstruct “the image of school” present in German early education coursebooks. It is possible to name and describe the key dimensions in this image such as: the democratic nature of teacher-student relations, the focus on the activation of students’ personal knowledge as well as on their ethical and cognitive autonomy, realistic vision of the world, trust in students’ competences, and creating the sphere of the nearest development.

Discussions of the disciplinary roots of second language (L2) composition studies contain no mention of cognitive linguistics, even though there are regular references to systemic functional linguistics, which is one of the cognitive-functional approaches to language of which cognitive linguistics is a central member (Nuyts 2007). In fact, systemic functional linguistics is recognized in composition studies as an infl uence in composition’s social turn (cf. Grabe and Kaplan 1996). However, composition researchers have apparently taken no interest in cognitive linguistics, a discipline which epitomizes the linguistic turn within linguistics. The linguistic turn became a slogan in the academic community in the 1970s, after Rorty (1967) used the phrase as the title of his anthology presenting the steps in what he called the philosophical revolution of the 20th century. The revolution meant the recognition that philosophical problems were in an important sense linguistic/conceptual: Knowledge depends on language, and philosophical concepts (e.g., truth, reality, etc.) are linguistic constructs that have a human socio-cultural (i.e., embodied and embedded) foundation rather than an ultimate transcendental foundation. As a result of this major development in 20th-century philosophy, the humanities and social sciences started to recognize the importance of language as a structuring agent of human consciousness. This fundamental idea affected the development of composition studies (bringing about its social turn) as well as contributed to the rise of cognitive linguistics in the 1980s. The paper looks into this affi nity between composition studies and cognitive linguistics, focusing on how the two fi elds are defi ned by their opposition to what is called Cartesian or fi rst-generation cognitivism.

Rozwojem ekohydrologii i wprowadzaniem w życie jej założeń w celu przywrócenia zasobów wody pitnej i poprawy jej jakości zajmuje się Międzynarodowe Centrum Ekologii PAN.

Wywiad z profesor Agnieszką Zalewską

Połączenie hydrologii i ekologii daje nadzieję na opanowanie narastającego kryzysu wodnego. Ale jak zintegrować ,,inżynierską" hydrologię z ekologią skupiającą się na żywych organizmach?

This article looks at the key themes of Stanisław Jaworski’s memoir Którędy [Which way], published in 2018. They are embedded in a highly personal (autobiographical) idea of poetry with its recurrent motifs of return to childhood, the experience of loss of a beloved person and multifarious refl ections on the experience and poetics of oneirism.

Japanese literature has been known in Poland at least since the end of the 19th century, when first translations were made of Japanese prose and poetry (although via English or other languages). I consider the first translation made directly from Japanese into Polish language a short story by Kikuchi Kan, entitled Tusz ('Ink'), published in April of 1939, in a monthly magazine "Echoes from Far East." In the same magazine we can find also many examples of stories and poetry written not by Japanese, but by Polish authors, fascinated with Japan and its culture. Works by the same authors: Maria Juszkiewiczowa, Aleksander Janowski, Antoni Kora, Leon Rygier, Remigjusz Kwiatkowski and others were published also in other newspapers and magazines, and as separate novel books. While some short mentions about the earliest translations may be found in books on Japanese literature and contacts between Poland and Japan, novels, stories and poems written originally by Polish authors inspired by Japan are now all but forgotten. Hardly any of them were published again after World War II and they are not to be found in regular libraries. In the present paper I concentrate on the forgotten jewels of Polish prose (and to some extent poetry and drama) based on Japanese themes, published before World War II.

The article is an attempt to present and discuss – based on the struggle against Barbary pirates and corsairs waged in the Mediterranean Sea – dynamic and complex political and economic processes as well as diplomatic efforts that contributed to the French conquest of Algiers in 1830. The first three decades of the 19th century were among the most turbulent periods in the history of the French nation. Defeated and humiliated by the enemy coalition in 1815, France did not give up on her “imperial dream”, this time trying to make it come true in a non-distant Maghreb. The way to achieve this goal was, however, quite bumpy. At that time, the western part of the Mediterranean Sea was an arena of competition, mainly between the United States and Great Britain. After all, this turned out to be very favourable to France. Wishing to introduce an extra element into the game, eliminate rivals for overseas supremacy, as well as win Russia – that was gradually strengthening her influence in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea – as an ally, at the end of the 1820’s Great Britain became an advocate of her neighbour across the English Channel. Gradually regaining her economic potential and international importance, France reached for Algiers by entering the armed conflict. However, the French stronghold in Maghreb would soon pose a major challenge to the British colonialism in Africa. Expressing their major concern over the security of so-called “imperial route” leading via the Mediterranean sea, British politicians and statesmen adopted a new political stance toward the declining Ottoman Empire. Owing to their “independence and integrity” doctrine (formulated in 1830’s), the rich Ottoman heritage managed to “survive” by the outbreak of World War II.

Subjective Well-Being is related to the Big-Five and to Individualistic and Collectivistic beliefs of Polish adolescents. In the present study, we examined whether Individualism and Collectivism beliefs mediate between the Big-Five and Subjective Well-being among adolescents, young and middle-aged adults. Adolescents (N = 174, 36% men, aged 14–18), young (N = 254, 45% men, aged 19–24) and middle-aged adults (N = 252, 54% men, aged 40–55) completed the NEO-FFI, the Ind-Col20, and measures of Subjective Well-being. The three groups differed on all dimensions. Adolescents reported the highest Neuroticism, the lowest Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, the highest Individualism and Collectivism beliefs and lowest SWB. Among adolescents, SEM analyses indicated that Subjective Well-being was negatively related to Neuroticism and Agreeableness, positively to Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Horizontal Individualism, Horizontal and Vertical Collectivism. Among young and middle-aged adults Subjective Well-being was negatively related to Neuroticism and Horizontal Collectivism, positively to Openness, Conscientiousness, Horizontal and Vertical Individualism. Beliefs partially mediated the effects of traits. Relationships were different for cognitive and affective Subjective Well-being indices.

The paper presents the authors’ concept of an adaptive road lighting that is concurrent with vehicles moving on roads. The lighting system is based on luminaires with light emitting diodes. The authors describe the operation of the adaptive road lighting system and point out benefits and limitations of the solution. The theoretical considerations are supported by an analysis of the installed and working system that was implemented at Bożeny street in Poznan, Poland. The system was also evaluated by the residents living near the street.