Series:Uniwersytet Łódzki

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The Polish Army Garrison in Tomaszów Mazowiecki in the Years 1918–1939

Garnizon Wojska Polskiego w Tomaszowie Mazowieckim w latach 1918–1939

Author(s): Witold Jarno / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Garrison in Tomaszów Mazowiecki;barracks in Tomaszów Mazowiecki;September 1939;Heavy Artillery Regiment;The Second Polish Republic;Kaniów Riflemen

The book concerns the history of the Polish Army Garrison in Tomaszów Mazowiecki from the time Poland regained independence until the September 1939 campaign. The history of the garrison is shown against the background of the organizational changes of the Polish army, including its relations with the local community. Much space in the monograph has been devoted to the personnel, restoring to posterity the memory of many forgotten officers associated with the Tomaszów garrison. The wealth of information, complemented by an extensive collection of photographs, makes the publication an interesting read not only for the scientific circles but also among enthusiasts and people who want to learn more about the history of Tomaszów Mazowiecki – and perhaps also about their own families. In a series called to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining independence in 1918, and to consolidate historical knowledge about the origin and course of the reconstruction of the Polish state in the Polish collective consciousness, monographs, biographies and source materials will be published. They will pivot around the theme of Polish independence and the fight for its realization and substantiation, encompassing a broad range of aspects: Polish and international, political, social and economic; concerning armed fight as well as diplomatic manoeuvres, and, finally, describing pertinent projects in the field of culture.

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Digitization. Organization Data Management

Cyfryzacja. Zarządzanie danymi w organizacji

Author(s): Beata Gontar / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: data security;information visualization;BI;Business Intelligence;SQL;Structured Query Language;databases;data management;digitization

In the era of big data, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), understanding the importance of data and learning about the ways of effective data processing determines the future of most companies on the market. The way data is perceived in the business environment is changing, so it is worth keeping up to date with trends relevant to vital business data. Business analytics allows you to make more conscious decisions that are important in achieving competitive advantage and doing business. The aim of the publication is to familiarize readers with how IT and telecommunications technologies support management. Issues such as data architecture, database theory and in particular database design as well as the use of SQL to create databases and formulate queries have been discussed. Much attention has been devoted to the Business Intelligence (BI) system, data warehouses, visualizations and ways of presenting data as well as information, security and new technologies (IoT). The book is a compendium on management information systems as such. It is intended as an introduction to the topic of efficient digital transformation of business and the business practice of data management.

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(Dif)fusions. Relations between Literature and Art in Poland after 1945

(Dy)fuzje. Związki literatury i sztuki w Polsce po 1945 roku

Author(s): Tomasz Bocheński,Magdalena Lachman,Paweł Polit,Michalina Kmiecik,Daniel Muzyczuk,Andrzej Niewiadomski,Dariusz Pachocki,Agnieszka Rejniak-Majewska,Paweł Stangret,Justyna Staroń,Anna Śliwa,Beata Śniecikowska,Aleksander Wójtowicz,Tomasz Załuski / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Literariness;visuality;avant-garde;utopia;visual arts

The publication is the result of a project implemented at the Łódź Museum of Art in cooperation with the University of Łódź Department of the 20th- and 21st-Century Literature. The case-study research focused on the phenomena that indicated artists' attachment to different variants of the avant-⁠garde principle of the integration of arts. They also emphasized the convergence of artists' aspirations in Poland after 1945 in various sociopolitical, institutional and even social contexts.The book deals with alliances and analogies within visual arts and literature – both beyond their traditionally obeyed formulas, and within conventionally respected and honoured limits. The authors of the collected texts try to capture the reciprocity of artistic stimulation in the dissemination of specific ideas, and at the same time they are interested in positional and paradigmatic shifts in the perception of seemingly well-known issues; in other words, in everything that lies in the semantic potential of the title “(dif)fusion”.“This volume has a distinct innovative trait – both at the level of discovering and revealing new ideas (where phenomena subjected to little or no research are examined) and in the area of repetition (where discussion covers decently researched topics). [...] There is also, so to speak, a cognitive section in it. On the one hand, there are contributions to the work of very famous and well-known artists (Białoszewski, Brzozowski, Buczkowski, Czycz, Haupt, Kantor, Peiper, Strzemiński, Themerson), while on the other we receive competent texts devoted to artists and phenomena that are less popular or virtually unknown (Bruszewski, Dłużniewski, Kryszkowski, Partum or underground art magazines – artzines). Inevitably, these first contributions require engaging in a kind of agon with antecedent research, while the latter constitute an intellectual novelty somewhat in and of itself. This combination seems very refreshing for the message of the entire publication.” From the review by dr hab. Piotr Łuszczykiewicz, prof. UAM

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Economics. Tasks and exercises with elements of managerial economics

Ekonomia. Zadania i ćwiczenia z elementami ekonomii menedżerskiej

Author(s): Tomasz Grabia,Mariusz Nyk / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: open economy;macroeconomic balance;consumer;manager;enterprise;fiscal policy;monetary policy;inflation;unemployment;labour market

Economics is the social science concerned with the economic process, i.e. with making the best possible choices based on the calculation of gains and losses. The presented set of tasks and case studies constitute a preparation material intended to facilitate making the optimal economic decisions. The publication contains guidelines for developing effective diagnostic and problem-solving techniques, while maintaining a multi-faceted approach to the topics under discussion. The tasks and case studies reflect the dilemmas currently facing entrepreneurs, policy-makers and consumers. The latest solutions based on mathematical economics and analysis have also been included, with an emphasis on a clear and straightforward presentation of the subject.

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Grembach. An Ethnographic Guide to a Łódź Housing Estate

Grembach – etnograficzny przewodnik po łódzkim osiedlu

Author(s): Grażyna Ewa Karpińska,Aleksandra Krupa-Ławrynowicz / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: workers' housing estate; “Ariadna” Widzew Sewing Thread Factory; Niciarka; Juliusz Kunitzer; Łódź workers’ family houses (famuły); Widzew workers; factory housing estate; Grembach

“Grembach. An Ethnographic Guide to a Łódź Housing Estate” in Łódź is the first such detailed presentation of an area of Łódź that has not yet been the subject of a dedicated study. The name Grembach refers to the workers' housing estate established towards the end of the 19th century in the then village of Widzew located on the outskirts of Łódź. Life in the Grembach was associated above all with the sewing thread factory built there which offered people work, flats in the factory housing estate and organized their leisure time. In the guidebook, we take the reader on a tour around the estate where workers once built “their” world. Its existing image has been reconstructed on the basis of photographs, archival documents and the memories of several generations of residents. We follow the footprints left behind by Grembach workers which transport us back in time to what was once here. We trace recollections of the past couched in historical accounts to recreate the lives of workers in the interwar period and in the years of the Polish People's Republic (PRL).

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Pedagogical implications of Kazimierz Dąbrowski’s theory of positive disintegration

Pedagogiczne implikacje teorii dezintegracji pozytywnej Kazimierza Dąbrowskiego

Author(s): Dominik Chojnowski / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: positive disintegration; Kazimierz Dąbrowski; level, development; dynamisms; giftedness

In this book I analyze Kazimierz Dąbrowski’s theory of positive disintegration with special regard to its pedagogical implications to modern social science. Although this concept gained recognition in the world of science, its reception is being undertaken mainly outside of borders of our country. It deals with the subject of ontogenetic development of human. In the background of other theories of this type it stands out, for it understands large part of mental disorders, especially neuroses and psychoneurosis, in a positive way. Hence it defines mental health and mental illness in a different way. It states that part of mental disorders disintegrating ones psyche have crucial meaning for acceleration of ones development. This way of thinking this theory also transfers to area of issues concerning education, especially issue of talented students and how educational methods affect them. This results with extensive pedagogical implications. The main aim of this work is to show original concept of prominent Polish scholar in educational context. I search for an answer to a question whether its application in pedagogics and education is beneficial as opposed to its being obsolete and not fit to be used. Research method that I use in this book is hermeneutic analysis of Dąbrowski’s works based on interpretation and understanding of his texts as objectified cultural sources. Therefore I analyze author of positive disintegration works and I bring out these contents that give me insight into his understanding of educational and social issues and how they fit into todays social sciences and educational practice.

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Financialization of selected commodity markets in the world

Finansjalizacja wybranych rynków surowcowych na świecie

Author(s): Marcin Złoty / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: financialization; investment; futures contracts; the commodity market

Financialization transforms the existing rights, directions and rules of functioning of many levels of the economy, including the commodity market. The activity of investors in the futures market from the beginning of the 21st century began to determine the trends in prices of commodities. Implementation of solutions and instruments of the financial market to the structure of the commodity market is the contemporary dimension of the financialization of this area. The study covered the impact of financial investors on the commodity futures market on the development of spot prices of five analyzed assets – gold, silver, copper, WTI crude oil and natural gas. The analysis of the impact of the futures market factors on the current market, carried out using the Granger causality method, is aimed at determining the order of interactions between both levels of trading. The current trends and transformations of the commodity market show the constant transformation of the entire world economy, which is becoming increasingly dependent on financial systems and instruments.

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The Apocryphal and the Ekphrastic as a Complementary Intertextual Poetics

Apokryficzność i ekfrastyczność jako komplementarne poetyki intertekstualne

Author(s): Julia Dynkowska / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: ekphrasis; apocryphon; the apocryphal; the ekphrastic; intertextuality; intersemiotics

The thesis The Apocryphal and the Ekphrastic as a Complementary Intertextual Poetics discusses the relation of the ekphrastic and apocryphal components in various ekphrastic texts based on the visual works of art. The dissertation is divided into 4 analytical chapters preceded by the theoretical introduction in which the categories of apocryphon and ekphrasis are presented. Furthermore, in this section two types of apocryphal and ekphrastic complementarities are proposed (apocryphal ekphrases/apocryphal ekphrastic texts and ekphrastic apocrypha). Examples of those complementarities are presented, analyzed and interpreted in the following sections. The intention behind the analysis in aforementioned sections is to prove the usefulness of category of an apocryphon in the ekphrastic studies. ‘The apocryphal’ provides suggestive conceptualization of animations and narrative augmentations of paintings and photographs inscribed in the ekphrases. What is more, there is an essential feature which connects all of the texts presented in this paper – each of them concerns the loss of ‘innocent look’ at the visual pre-texts, ways of thinking produced by them, canonical interpretations and idealizations of works of art, their authors and captured scenes or figures. Apocryphal-ekphrastic rewriting enables canonical artworks to be seen not only as aesthetical, but also (perhaps above all) ethical objects.

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Learning to "become" an old person

Uczenie się „stawania się” osobą starą

Author(s): Marcin Muszyński / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: starość; personalizacja miejsca; trajektorie uczenia się; badanie jakościowe; cielesność; aktywność; relacje społeczne

The research problem focuses on understanding how individuals learn to become older persons, how such self-identification is constructed at the individual level, what it means to be an older adult, and what image of old age emerges from the narratives of the researched participants. Social constructionism served as the epistemological basis for the research, while social interactionism and the biographical approach were the main theoretical orientations. Efforts were also made to present the empirical data within much broader structures, constituting macroscopic approaches to late adulthood and referring to the specialized gerontological knowledge. Narrative and semi-structured interview techniques, photowalk techniques, and qualitative observation were used for data collection. The research was conducted between 2017 and 2022 in Lodz and selected villages in the Lodz Voivodship. A total of 43 interviews were conducted, including 22 narrative and 21 semi-structured interviews. Forty-three narrators participated in the study. As a result of the conducted research, four agency areas were identified, representing various manifestations of human agency. The analysis also distinguished the internal and external dimensions of experiencing one's old age. All these elements were used to create a model of learning to become an older adult based on strictly defined assumptions derived directly or indirectly from the obtained empirical data. This learning is considered statically and dynamically, indicating the multiplicity of typical scenarios of old person identification.

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China’s relational politics in Central and Eastern Europe. The case of the Czech Republic

Relacyjność w stosunkach Chin z Europą Środkowo-Wschodnią. Przypadek Czech

Author(s): Bartosz Kowalski / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: China’s foreign policy; Czech foreign policy; relationalism; Global South; China-Central Eastern Europe

Applying relational theory, this book examines the case study of China’s relations with the Czech Republic to explain why China initially managed to build and then lost significant influence in the country. The author also presents the broader context of the changes that have taken place in China's relations with Central and Eastern European countries after 2012. The key element in understanding China’s relational approach to Central and Eastern Europe is the peripherality of the region in the perception of Chinese political elites and its inclusion to the net of China’s relations with developing countries (the Global South). Although Central and Eastern European countries have relatively little potential as economic partners for China, due to the presumably weak and exogenous nature of their democracy and the rule of law, they have been perceived as vulnerable to relational politics and building support for the Chinese political agenda. The author argues that the perception of the region as a peripheral area influences the foreign policy tools (including informality and elite capture) and political economy used by China towards developing countries.

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Contemporary challenges of spatial planning in tourism destinations

Contemporary challenges of spatial planning in tourism destinations

Author(s): / Language(s): English

Keywords: sustainable spatial planning; strategic planning; sustainable tourism; tourism destinations; Europe

The book entitled “Contemporary challenges of spatial planning in tourism destinations” compares the different contexts for spatial planning and how they approach tourism-related issues in selected European countries, namely Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Turkey. Each chapter starts with a presentation of the overall profile of the investigated country. The chapters then consider the following contexts of spatial planning of tourism destinations: legal regulations of spatial planning, long-term strategy for spatial planning, public participation in spatial planning, and the main challenges of spatial planning of tourism destinations. The publication ends with an overarching discussion focusing on the various challenges that affect sustainable spatial planning of tourism destinations in the countries under consideration. The book was edited by Tomasz Napierała and Katarzyna Leśniewska-Napierała (both from University of Lodz), and Giancarlo Cotella (Politecnico di Torino). The publication is the output of the international project SPOT – Sustainable Spatial Planning of Tourism Destinations, supported by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme (2019-1-PL01-KA203-064946).

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The past, present and future of Łódź. Volume 2: The Space of the Industrial Town

Przeszłość, teraźniejszość i przyszłość Łodzi. Tom 2. Przestrzeń miasta przemysłowego. Zbiór studiów z okazji 200 lat Łodzi przemysłowej

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Łódź; city; future of Łódź; spatial development of the city; identity of the city; urban regeneration

In 2020, Łódź celebrated 200 years of its industrial history. This anniversary became the basis for organising a scientific debate on the industrial history and future of our city, and the aftermath of a series of meetings prepared by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Urban Studies during the anniversary year is this, the second publication.  In the subtext of the debate, we posed ourselves the questions: How has the space of the industrial city evolved? How has Łódź and its space changed during the transformation period? What is the direction of the city's spatial policy today? What determined its transformations and what is changing in Łódź today? How does the industrial historical past determine the future of the city? How has Łódź changed and in what direction is it heading?  The publication takes up two main threads of reflections on the development of the city, i.e. transformation and the urban space of Łódź - its past, present and future. The first part of the publication covers the processes of the city's transformation from a slowly developing small village from the period up to the 15th century, through the prosperity of the 19th century industrial city, to the post-industrial city towards its further transformation and regeneration. The second part focuses on the space of the city of Łódź and its transformations, as  well as the factors and determinants of these transformations. By looking at the city of Łódź from different perspectives, mainly from the perspective of spatial planning, spatial economy, socio-economic geography, management, environmental protection, architecture and urban planning, we wanted to enrich the much needed new interdisciplinary approach to urban studies.

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International Economy. Theoretical Framework

Gospodarka międzynarodowa. Rys teoretyczny

Author(s): Magdalena Rosińska-Bukowska,Klaudia Zielińska-Lont / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: international economy; international trade; international competitiveness; transnational corporations; globalization; foreign direct investment

The term 'international economy' is very broad, variously defined, and increasingly complex in the 21st century. This paper assumes that it is a system of economic, social and cultural links that develop in stages between dynamically changing participants, with increasingly complex structures, that collectively facilitate the international process of production and exchange of goods, services and ideas. This process involves all countries and regions and is carried out simultaneously at many levels: micro-, meso-, macro- and meta-economic, which interact with each other.The authors' aim was to create a concise theoretical and conceptual base, necessary for a comprehensive assessment of the changes taking place in individual economies, as well as in the global economic system. The monograph is a collection of basic definitions, classifications, information on structures and mechanisms, as well as sources of theoretical foundations, which can be used as a basis for more in-depth research.Definitions and concepts relating to: trade and investment policy; international competitiveness of economies; the development of transnational corporations; the importance of globalisation processes; the evolution of the institutional structure of the international economy (including: GATT-WTO, International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group) have been presented.The paper presents the author's concept of assessing the international competitiveness of economies on the basis of a systemically-balanced model, emphasising the importance of four levels of establishing competitiveness (micro-, meso-, macro- and meta-economic) and the necessity of a comprehensive study of it, taking into account: baseline competitiveness (resources, potential), operational competitiveness (capabilities, instruments), competence competitiveness (key competences, advantage) and systemic competitiveness.

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14.00 €

Zofia Lipecka. Labyrinths of Art

Zofia Lipecka. Labirynty sztuki

Author(s): Eleonora Jedlińska / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: art; ethics; labyrinths; archetyps; memory

Book Zofia Lipecka. Labyrinths of Art presents a rich, long term work of the painter. The artist’s works are presented in chronological and problematic order, starting from the 1980s to the most recent. Zofia Lipecka is a Polish-French artist, born in Łęczca, she spent her entire adult life in Paris. She studied art history at the Sorbonne in Paris and painting at the École des Beaux Arts. Lipecka’s art, whose selected buy significant works for her entire oeuvre have presented in this study, has become a reason to delve into the work that could be described as the work of ethical and artistic responsibility. Following in the footsteps of the artist’s intellectual inquiries, worldviews, but also fascinations and inspirations, which make up art – in its widest spectrum – as do philosophy, political and social events, issues of environmental degradation, memory, history and, most recently, the war in Ukraine. In this book we find a picture, quite complete, of the attitude of the artist deeply engaged. Lipecka is interested in the condition of modern man – the trauma of post-war and Holocaust remembrance and entanglement in current political scenarios. The following chapters present the most important points of Lipecka’s work, points that situate her art in changing theoretical-philosophical relationships. Images – as the author of the book put in – are analyzed in a way through of the artist, specific historical, political or social facts. Meanings are created and events that motivate them take place. It is a book – the fruit of close intellectual and emotional bond between the art critic and the artist.

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10.00 €

Decoding of word constructions by preschool children with mild intellectual disabilities against the developmental norm

Dekodowanie konstrukcji słowotwórczych przez dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym z niepełnosprawnością intelektualną w stopniu lekkim na tle normy rozwojowej

Author(s): Mateusz Szurek / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: intellectual disability; vocabulary competence; speech therapy; linguistics

The publication, which is part of the author's doctoral dissertation, remains within the sphere of interest of both special pedagogy, psycholinguistics and speech therapy. The research steps taken served to objectively diagnose and descript the interrelated properties of children's speech, including, in particular, vocabulary competence manifested in the processes of understanding vocabulary constructions, in relation to their global development and the development of their peers in the norm. The linguistic analysis of decoding (understanding) of vocabulary constructions by five- and six-year-old children with mild intellectual disabilities was referred to the material collected among children of typical development, of the same or similar mental and metric age. In order to answer the difficult questions, including the dynamics of vocabulary development in children with mild intellectual disabilities, possible delays, identity or qualitative and quantitative dissimilarity in the acquisition of vocabulary rules in relation to children with typical development, the subject of the study was covered nouns that constitute the most numerous class of parts of speech and form the core of the dictionary. Only mutational derivatives were analyzed in detail, due to the large number of responses collected during the study. This book is an attempt to show the development of vocabulary skills in the situation of the child's cognitive limitations in the form of mild intellectual disabilities, at the stage of the formation of the entire linguistic system, i.e., in the interlingual period, only with regard to the decoding of word constructions. Thus, it is one part of the author's series of publications on in-depth studies of the vocabulary competence of preschool children with mild intellectual disabilities.

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11.00 €

Commanders of Zeno (474-491) and Anastasius (491-518)

Wodzowie Zenona (474–491) i Anastazjusza I (491–518)

Author(s): Mirosław J. Leszka,Szymon Wierzbiński / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Eastern Roman Empire; army; commanders; emperor Zeno; emperor Anastasius; Persians; Ostrogoths; Isaurians

The aim of this book is to present the reader, not only a professional historian, with the profiles of a dozen or so Byzantine commanders who were active during the years 474-518 and who, for a variety of reasons, drew our attention. Although the book does not provide the portraits of all the commanders of Emperors Zeno and Anastasius, it covers almost all of those about whom the surviving sources allowed us to say something substantial. Our goal was to give an account not only of their military careers, but also, where possible, of the other aspects of their lives. The book is in three parts. The first presents the Byzantine army whose troops remained under the command of the heroes of this book. The second part outlines Byzantium’s opponents, those against whom the commanders in question happened to wage wars – the Persians, the Goths, and the Isaurians. It also briefly recounts the course of these wars during the reigns of Zeno and Anastasius. The third part is devoted to the commanders themselves (Areobindus, Armatus, Celer, Faresmanes, Hypatius, Illus the Isaurian, John the Hunchback (Kyrtos), John the Scytian, Leontius, Longinus, Marcian, Patricius, Sabinianus the Great, Trocundes, Vitalian). Texts published in this volume are organized, as far as the sources permitted, according to the following scheme: descent, education, career (civil and military), picture in the sources, family, and military accomplishments.

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9.00 €

The Multimedia Presentations at Academic Conferences

Prezentacje multimedialne w wystąpieniach naukowych

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: multimedia presentations; scientific presentations; academic conferences; scientific speeches; scientific communication; scientific paper

Speeches at academic conferences are a permanent element of every researcher's activity, closely related to the area of his/her work, consisting, among others, of communicating the results of his/her research to the community. The quality of scientific communication is the basis for the flow of information, made with the visualization of data and conclusions, which becomes essential and expected by recipients in the 21st century. One of the methods of processing information into a multimedia form is a presentation that enriches oral communication and enables the recipients of the message to use multi-sensory channels at the same time: hearing and sight. The book formulates answers to two questions: "How to prepare a good scientific speech?" and "How to prepare a good presentation that enriches a scientific speech?" The publication has an academic and practical character. It divides into three parts. The first one concerns scientific speeches at scientific conferences, the second is devoted to multimedia presentations used during such speeches, and the third discusses specific examples of changes the authors introduced into their presentations to improve them and meet the requirements of a scientific one. The monograph also discusses other issues related to public speaking, such as clothing, savoir vivre, and voice emission. The main goals pursued by the authors of individual texts are knowledge and description, but also practical and implementation of the set goals. Authors use the following methods: desk research, analysis and criticism of literature, deductive, comparative & heuristic methods, and case studies. The book uses rich literature on the subject. The publication can be used by practicing and novice scientists, Ph.D. students, and students representing various academic disciplines.

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Theories and practices of communication: 2

Teorie i praktyki komunikacji: 2

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: communication; communicational grammar; Grażyna Habrajska

The substantive and methodological diversity of the volume creates a rich and coherent mosaic of today's communicology as a discipline and as knowledge about communication developed in other disciplines. The book includes chapters whose authors undertake the problems of the rudiments of communication sciences and media as well as the analyses pf various spaces of communication. The cognitive function has been superbly realized: the individual studies are novel, innovative, they balance well between scientific tradition and the pursuit of new ways, solutions, approaches. It is impossible to ignore their educational influence on students and young researchers.

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Praise for the golden mean, or about intermediate solutions in territorial governance

Pochwała złotego środka, czyli o rozwiązaniach pośrednich w gospodarce przestrzennej

Author(s): Mariusz E. Sokołowicz / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: rozwiązania pośrednie; złoty środek; klasa średnia; samorząd terytorialny; decentralizacja

Today, the benefits of intermediate solutions in societies and economies need to be sufficiently appreciated. When we are demanded to be the best, or every city or region has the ambition to be the biggest, the risk of overstepping the already heavily compromised growth boundaries and frustration finding vent in political tensions increases. The answer may lie in a return to a culture of the 'golden mean' and intermediate solutions (between excellence and mediocrity, wealth and poverty, centralisation and dispersion, power and freedom) as an antidote to the extremes leading to tensions and crises. Based on communities working for the commons and discussing a shared future, local governments can be a laboratory for these changes. The 'golden mean' of the title has a profound ontological, ethical, axiological and pragmatic justification. It applies to the social sciences, of which spatial management is one. The author of the monograph argues that ordinary people in their mass are the key to modern development, including the further development of local self-government. However, this requires building in society and politics a culture of acceptance of diversity as an immanent feature of the human species. To be effective, actions must be accepted by ordinary people. To be taken, they must come from them and not be imposed. They must stem from a sense of agency, even at the level of the most minor, bottom-up collective action to go from them. To foster such a sense, territorial-administrative systems should be decentralised de facto rather than de jure, and the territorial diversity of institutional arrangements, understood as multiple routes to the same goal, should be considered natural.

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Faces of War, vol. 10, Tools of War

Oblicza Wojny, t. 10, Narzędzia wojny

Author(s): / Language(s): English,Russian

Keywords: tools of war; ancient; XX century; military histo

This tenth volume of the Oblicza Wojny (Faces of War) series, contains 12 papers written by archaeologists and historians from Czechia, Greece, Canada, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Italy. Such a team of researchers not only ensures an interdisciplinary approach to the issue at hand but also guarantees a multifaceted approach.All papers address the problem named in the title of this volume: the Tools of War. We can distinguish several levels of research undertaken by the Authors: themes related to the armaments of particular armies and fortification systems; references to military formations and the impact of their development on the battlefield; diplomacy as a tool during war, and less obvious issues: money, bicycle, and even a lekythos.New approaches to well-known research problems, reinterpretation of old analyses and views, and taking up hitherto unexplored issues are features that unite all the texts, at the same time making them a reading material recommended for both specialists and students.

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