The approach of a unilateral impact of the financial sector on economic growth was invalidated by the last financial crisis which very quickly changed into a global economic crisis.

The aim of the study is the analysis of the impact of the financial sector on economic growth in the context of the growing phenomenon of financialization, which was one of the significant reasons of the financial crisis. The study was focused on presenting the growing scale of this phenomenon and analysing the impact of money supply in USD and EUR on world GDP and the GDP of the USA and the Eurozone. The following hypothesis was postulated: the growing process of financialization causes the growth of the USD and EUR supply, influencing changes in the world GDP, the GDP of the USA and the Eurozone. The study confirmed the hypothesis of the relation of the money supply with changes in economic growth. However, influencing economic growth with the money supply causes the purchasing power of business entities to decrease and causes growing debt. Furthermore, it does not contribute to the strength of the real economy. A repair of the current “system“ should not be sought for in constantly increasing macroprudential regulations, but in a return to a country’s interventionism, leading to a change in the priorities of the actions of financial institutions; mainly banks, and the supply of money based on fixed parities (gold, energy).

The concept of `diversity' has been one of the main open issues in the field of multiple classifier systems. In this paper we address a facet of diversity related to its effectiveness for ensemble construction, namely, explicitly using diversity measures for ensemble construction techniques based on the kind of overproduce and choose strategy known as ensemble pruning. Such a strategy consists of selecting the (hopefully) more accurate subset of classifiers out of an original, larger ensemble. Whereas several existing pruning methods use some combination of individual classifiers' accuracy and diversity, it is still unclear whether such an evaluation function is better than the bare estimate of ensemble accuracy. We empirically investigate this issue by comparing two evaluation functions in the context of ensemble pruning: the estimate of ensemble accuracy, and its linear combination with several well-known diversity measures. This can also be viewed as using diversity as a regularizer, as suggested by some authors. To this aim we use a pruning method based on forward selection, since it allows a direct comparison between different evaluation functions. Experiments on thirty-seven benchmark data sets, four diversity measures and three base classifiers provide evidence that using diversity measures for ensemble pruning can be advantageous over using only ensemble accuracy, and that diversity measures can act as regularizers in this context.

In the presented paper we discuss pure versions of pushdown automata that have no extra non-input symbols. More specifically, we study pure multi-pushdown automata, which have several pushdown lists. We restrict these automata by the total orders defined over their pushdowns or alphabets and determine the accepting power of the automata restricted in this way. Moreover, we explain the significance of the achieved results and relate them to some other results in the automata theory.

This paper presents novel approach to the Huffman’s asynchronous sequential circuit two valued Boolean switching system design. The algorithm is implemented as software using distributed, service oriented application model with means of the web service component design. It considers method implementation challenges, both towards Moore and Mealy structures with particular respect to the estimation of the Huffman’s minimization algorithm computational complexity. The paper provides implementation details, theoretical model estimation and experimental results that acknowledge the theoretical approach in practice. This paper also examine the multistep design process implementation and its problems inherent in web service based environment both for development and educational purposes.

The methane hazard is one of the most dangerous phenomena in hard coal mining. In a certain range of concentrations, methane is flammable and explosive. Therefore, in order to maintain the continuity of the production process and the safety of work for the crew, various measures are taken to prevent these concentration levels from being exceeded. A significant role in this process is played by the forecasting of methane concentrations in mine headings. This very problem has been the focus of the present article. Based on discrete measurements of methane concentration in mine headings and ventilation parameters, the distribution of methane concentration levels in these headings was forecasted. This process was performed on the basis of model-based tests using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The methodology adopted was used to develop a structural model of the region under analysis, for which boundary conditions were adopted on the basis of the measurements results in real-world conditions. The analyses conducted helped to specify the distributions of methane concentrations in the region at hand and determine the anticipated future values of these concentrations. The results obtained from model-based tests were compared with the results of the measurements in realworld conditions. The methodology using the CFD and the results of the tests offer extensive possibilities of their application for effective diagnosis and forecasting of the methane hazard in mine headings.

Wyroby stalowe i żeliwne ze względu na niską cenę i korzystne właściwości znajdują najszersze zastosowanie wśród metali w gospodarce, a ich zużycie stało się wskaźnikiem rozwoju gospodarczego. W artykule przedstawiono charakterystykę surowców żelaza w odniesieniu do obecnych wymagań hutnictwa. Globalizacja handlu i rozwój technologii wytwarzania stali w ostatnim półwieczu spowodowały istotne zmiany w jakości wsadowych surowców mineralnych. Wymusiło to usprawnienie technologii przeróbczych przez zakłady górnicze. Przedmiotem światowego handlu są obecnie standardowe koncentraty o zawartości żelaza ponad 60%, tj. niemal dwukrotnie bogatsze niż rudy przetwarzane w połowie XX wieku w wielu krajach. Udoskonalone zostały sposoby oceny jakości surowców wsadowych i zaostrzono normy jakości.

W publikacji dokonano przeglądu wymagań jakościowych najbardziej istotnych surowców: rud i koncentratów żelaza, złomu stalowego, głównych metali stopowych, węgla koksowego i koksu oraz gazu i innych nośników energii. Zwrócono szczególną uwagę na metodykę badania jakości surowców oraz standaryzację surowców wsadowych. Jakość surowców oceniana jest wieloparametrycznie; istotne są zarówno cechy chemiczne, jak i fizyczne. Gorsze parametry jakościowe surowców wsadowych skutkują niższymi cenami uzyskiwanymi przez dostawców w obrocie.

Rynki tych surowców są zróżnicowane, kierowane odrębnymi i częściowo nowymi regułami. W obrocie handlowym funkcjonują standardy odniesień cenowych (np. ceny węgla metalurgicznego w Australii czy indeksy cenowe koncentratów żelaza). Część surowców kwotowana jest w systemie giełdowym (niektóre składniki stopowe i złom stalowy). Rezygnacja z powszechnych dawniej kontraktów wieloletnich doprowadziła do dużych wahań cen, które osiągnęły podobną skalę jak inne metale.

The paper discusses combinations consisting of classifying adjectives and nouns in Polish and English, as exemplified by the Polish expressions bomba atomowa ‘atomic bomb’, dział finansowy ‘financial department’ and their English equivalents. Apart from examining evidence indicating the phrasal status of such expressions, it presents arguments which can be employed to argue for the lexical (compound-like) nature of N+A or A+N combinations. It shows that they are at the border of the syntax and the lexicon.

While Polish migration to the UK has attracted much academic attention, there has been less discus-sion about the consequences of Polish migrants’ encounters with difference in socially diverse UK contexts. In particular, relatively little has been written about how Polish migrants describe or refer to ‘visible’ difference in terms of ethnicity, nationality, religion, class and gender. This reflects a broader tendency in migration studies to frequently overlook the production and transnational transfer of mi-grant language. In this article, I explore how Polish post-2004 migrants to the northern English city of Leeds produce ‘the language of difference’ and how this migrant language is passed on to non-migrants in Poland. I distinguish two types of language of difference – the language of stigma and the language of respect. I note that migrants construct both speech normativities through engaging with rhetoric exist-ing in the Polish and/or the UK context as well as through developing ‘migrant slang’ of difference. I further argue that the language of stigma and the language of respect are transferred to Poland via the agency of migrants. The article draws upon a broader study of Polish migrants’ values and atti-tudes towards difference and the circulation of ideas between these migrants and their family members and friends in Poland. It contributes to emerging debates on Polish migrants’ encounters with differ-ence and social remittances between the UK and Poland.