After an introduction (§1), all the Ugaritic terms for occupations, professions and social classes are set out in a classified list together with their cognates in other Semitic languages and their equivalents in Afro-Asiatic, Indo-European and other language groups (§2). There are also sections on composite expressions (§3) proper nouns (§§4–5) and both syllabic Ugaritic and Ugaritian Akkadian terms in these categories (§6). A table sets out the results (§7), with statistics for distribution (§8) and language (§9) and finally there are some conclusions (§10).
The aim of this study was to evaluate the hearing status of call centre operators in relation to their noise exposure. Conventional pure-tone audiometry and extended high-frequency audiometry were performed in 49 workers, aged 22–47 years (mean ± SD: 32.0 ± 6.0 years), working in call centre from 1.0 to 16.5 years (mean ± SD: 4.7 ± 2.9 years).
Questionnaire inquiry aimed at collecting personal data, the information on ommunication headset usage habits, self-assessment of hearing ability and identification of risk factors for noise-induced hearing loss were also carried out. Sound pressure levels generated by the communication headset were determined using the artificial ear technique specified in CSA Z107.56-13 (2013) standard. The background noise prevailing in offices was also measured according to PN-N-01307 (1994) and PN-EN ISO 9612 (2011).
Personal daily noise exposure levels in call centre operators varied from 66 to 86 dB (10–90th percentile). About half of the study subjects had normal hearing in the standard frequencies (from 250 to 8000 Hz) in both ears, while only 27.1% in the extended high-frequencies (9–16 kHz). Moreover, both high-frequency and speech-frequency hearing losses were observed in less than 10% of audiograms, while the extended high-frequency threshold shift was noted in 37.1% of analysed ears. The hearing threshold
levels of call centre operators in the frequency of 0.25–11.2 kHz were higher (worse) than the expected median values for equivalent (due to age and gender) highly screened population specified in ISO 7029 (2017). Furthermore, they were also higher than predicted for 500–4000 Hz according to ISO 1999 (2013) based on the results of noise exposure evaluation.
The motto of Zofia Nałkowska’s short-story collection Medaliony [Medalions] – “People doomed people to this fate” [Polish, “Ludzie ludziom zgotowali ten los”] – as obvious as it may apparently seem, has aroused various controversies. Henryk Grynberg believed that the only right formula, the one that would do justice to those persecuted, would have been “People doomed Jews to this fate”. Recently, the discussion was resumed in a book on the portrayal of the Holocaust in Medaliony – Zagłada w „Medalionach” Zofii Nałkowskiej, edited by Tomasz Żukowski: one of its essays (by Żukowski and Aránzazu Calderón Puerta) notices that endeavours to universalise the Holocaust is at least premature for the Poles tending to avoid facing the truth about their own contribution to annihilation of the Jews. While the threads addressed in these debates are important, they disregard the beliefs and the system of values Nałkowska adhered to. The Polish novelist adopted the view that man and the pleasure he takes in inflicting pain is the actual cause of evil. This inclination revealed itself not only during the war. This more general observation was rooted in her knowledge of life, relations between people, and daily cruelty. Supported by an ideology and furnished with technical resources, the war added a historical dimension to this bent. Moreover, Nałkowska was definitely not one among those who stayed silent in respect of the Jewish victims. Conversely, a few of the stories in Medaliony speak exactly about this problem, never trying to conceal anti-Semitic attitudes among Poles.
A description of the status of the art of experimental and theoretical investigations of local crystalline structures of tetrahedron ordered ternary and quaternary semiconducting alloys is presented. Experimental EXAFS data and FTIR analysis are summarized and analyzed using both the Rigid Network Cations theoretical model and the Strained-tetrahedra model. Internal preferences of ion pairs in ternary and quaternary alloys are discussed. Several ternary systems of different structures show ideal quasi-canonical Bernoulli distributions, while others are characterized by extreme preferences in which one, several or even all configurations are depressed or even lacking. The results demonstrate that the validity of the Bernoulli distribution is limited and not fulfilled in many systems. This article is an expanded version of the scientific reports presented at the International Conference on Semiconductor Nanostructures for Optoelectronics and Biosensors 2016 ICSeNOB2016, May 22–25, 2016, Rzeszow, Poland.