Corruption in local government units in Poland – sources and causes

The aim of this paper is to present the problem of corruption in local government entities. It addresses the sources and causes, as well as attempts to completely eliminate corruption from public life. The article serves as a review and introduction to the issues related to corruption in local government, its sources, and causes.

Ideal cities? Examples of implementing the smart city concept in Asia

The article analyzes the issue of an ideal city. The dynamic development of digital technologies leads us to believe that it is thanks to their use that the future cities will be created. At the beginning of the XXI century, the concept of a smart city became popular as a model of transforming the city using technologies to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants. Projects of modern solutions are used more often in Asia than in Europe. Examples include cities built from scratch, but special attention should be paid to Singapore, which is at the top of many rankings. The article discusses all these issues, and the aim is to show the specificity of the functioning of a smart city on the example of Singapore.

Wang Guangyi’s work and its influence on the development of pop art in China

Since the late 1970s, profound changes have been underway across all spheres of Chinese society, encompassing the arts, thereby giving rise to new artistic trends and transformative shifts within the entire artistic tradition. Chinese artists have increasingly asserted themselves on the international stage. Concurrently, as the West became intrigued by Chinese art, two prominent trends – political pop art and cynical realism – were notably burgeoning. Notably, political pop art emerged as a foremost artistic movement in China during the early 1990s. Central to this trend is a predilection for symbolism, serving as a conduit for artists to articulate their sentiments and societal perspectives. Wang Guangyi is widely acknowledged as the seminal figure behind this movement in China. This article delves into Wang Guangyi’s creative evolution and the genesis of political pop art, exploring the antecedents of this novel artistic trajectory, its conceptual underpinnings, and stylistic hallmarks.

Bridging cultures: the universal wisdom of aphorisms

This study explores the versatile nature of aphorisms, examining their linguistic structures, cultural implications, and pedagogical values across diverse languages and societies. Through literary analysis, comparative linguistic studies, and educational surveys, the research uncovers the inherent challenges in translating aphorisms while maintaining their stylistic and cultural essence. Findings reveal that aphorisms not only serve as concise expressions of universal truths and wisdom but also reflect the cultural values, norms, and philosophies of their respective societies. The investigation highlights the significant role of aphorisms in language learning and moral instruction, demonstrating their potential to foster cross-cultural understanding and linguistic appreciation. Aphorisms’ versatility as educational tools enhances learners’ engagement with language and culture, encouraging deeper reflection on ethical and philosophical issues. The study suggests future research directions, including the digital dissemination of aphorisms and their incorporation into artificial intelligence for language processing, underscoring their enduring relevance in a globalized and digitally connected world.

On the question of levels of adaptation of polonism in Russian language

The problem of loanword is one of the traditional ones in linguistic science. In the process of loanword, Polonisms were subject to adaptation at all levels of the language system. Phonetic adaptation of Polonisms involves their adaptation to the norms and laws of phonetics of the Russian language. Becoming the property of the Russian language, Polonisms acquire a Russian graphic appearance. Polonisms have undergone such semantic adaptation as narrowing, expanding and changing meanings. With grammatical adaptation, Polonisms adapt to the rules of Russian grammar and take on the grammatical meaning and grammatical features of the Russian language. As for stylistic adaptation, changes in emotional and expressive coloring and the functional consolidation of words, they are also determined by a number of extralinguistic factors: the status of the source language, established relations in the history of peoples, the perception of cultural values and their hierarchy in the system of others. The work uses a descriptive method in interpreting the material with the involvement of lexicographic sources of different genres.

Paralellism with common word and non-common word in Azerbaijani proverbs and sayings

As a result of many years of observation and testing, proverbs are a collection of words that have been shaped into a certain pattern, reflecting the causes of natural and social phenomena. Proverbs and sayings, as short, laconic means of speech, reveal the origin of events and have a reminiscent feature. In Azerbaijani language, proverbs related to then national customs and beliefs explain certain truths to the younger generations and call them to the right path. The article talks about proverbs as complex syntactic whole, parallelisms with common words and non-common words in Azerbaijani proverbs. Parallel conjunctions play an important role in proverbs and sayings. Although these valuable sayings are short and concise, consisting of several sentence members, the syntactic constructions in them can be attributed to different types of syntactic parallels. These parallels are of great importance in the formation of proverbs by connecting the components of the text with each other.

Stigmatization of the Roma community on the example of kolski county

The purpose of this article is to show the level of stigmatization of the Roma community in kolski county. With the help of the survey conducted, the opinions and degree of correlation of other residents of kolski county regarding their relations with Roma were presented. It was also important to show the causes of deepening stigmatization and its manifestations.

Forgotten Tarnów resident Dr. Marian Wodzinski (1911–1986) and his active participation in uncovering the truth about the Katyn massacre

The text attempts to present the wartime and post-war fate of the Polish intelligentsia who took a direct part in uncovering the Katyn massacre, using the example of Dr Marian Wodziński, a medical doctor. As a forensic doctor, he was appointed (against his will), to examine the exhumation of the victims buried in the Katyn forest. As a forensic expert, he believed that it was not up to him to determine the perpetrators, but to the court that would one day hear the murder case. He remained under pressure from the Germans, and after his return from Katyn to Poland, he was intensively searched by the NKVD and the UB, as an inconvenient, muchknowing witness. Arrested by the NKVD, he was freed thanks to influential people, and when he started to go into hiding, an APB was issued for him. In December 1945, he managed to escape from Poland under the name Marian Cich. He settled in the United Kingdom. The security apparatus recruited his brother Stanislaw to collaborate with him for many years. Despite many attempts, Dr M. Wodziński did not succumb to persuasion and pressure and did not return to Poland, although he missed his homeland very much. He returned to Tarnów after his death, in an urn which was buried in the family grave. Despite his many merits, as well as his patriotic attitude, until recently the figure of Dr M. Wodziński was forgotten. Also in his home town of Tarnów. The text about Dr Marian Wodziński should be – in the author’s assumption – a memento of this luminous figure for contemporary and future generations of Poles, especially the Polish intelligentsia, of which Dr Wodziński was a representative.