REPOSITORY
THE NICOLAUS COPERNICUS UNIVERSITY
IN TORUŃ
is an institutional repository of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. The task of the Repository is to promote scientific achievements and research conducted at NCU and to support teaching.
Recent Submissions
Scoring Health Behaviors of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
(MDPI, 2024-10-08) Jaworska-Czerwińska, Aleksandra Lidia; Oliwa-Libumska, Katarzyna; Lewicka, Marta; Żuratyński, Przemysław
Background and Objectives: Millions of people worldwide suffer from diabetes. The ever-increasing number of patients poses a huge challenge to healthcare systems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the lifestyle and self-monitoring of type 2 diabetes patients using the Healthy Lifestyle and Self-Monitoring Questionnaire. Material and Methods: The analyses conducted were based on data collected using the Polish version of the Healthy Lifestyle and Self-Control Questionnaire among 104 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who were treated at the Diabetes Outpatient Clinic. The in-house study also included an analysis of the relationship between lifestyle habits and disease acceptance and chronic disease functioning. Results: Respondents scored statistically significantly higher for the Healthy Lifestyle and Self-Monitoring Questionnaire than the norms assume, and the largest differences were observed in terms of the healthy dietary choices subscale (t = 8.07; p < 0.05). Only for the subscale of organized exercise were no statistically significant differences found (t = 0.50; p = 0.620). Conclusions: Type 2 diabetes is one of the diseases in which lifestyle not only contributes to its development but is also associated with its course and treatment outcomes. Reinforcing a health-promoting lifestyle is one of the cornerstones of treating patients with type 2 diabetes.
Wyniki analizy archeobotnicznej materiałów pozyskanych ze stanowiska nr 3 w miejscowości Równina Dolna, woj. warmińsko-mazurskie
(2024-12-20) Kofel-Lubczyńska, Dominika
Sprawozdanie prezentuje wyniki analiz archeobotanicznych polepy pozyskanej ze stanowiska nr 3 w miejscowości Równina Dolna, woj. warmińsko-mazurskie
Categorical Learning and the Cognitive Foundations of Language Evolution and Development
(2023) Zhang, Elizabeth Qing; Shi, Edward Ruoyang; Pleyer, Michael
Categorical learning plays a foundational role in language development. By reviewing comparative studies on categorical learning in humans and nonhuman animals, we show that categorical learning displays evolutionary continuity across invertebrates and vertebrates. Great apes and parrots can be trained to produce categories of (proto-)language-like symbols in different modalities. From the neurological perspective, we show that as a conserved brain structure, the basal ganglia are involved in categorical learning across species, and language processing in humans. This raises the possibility that categorical learning is one of the crucial cognitive foundations for language evolution.
Analogy and the Evolution of the Cognitive Foundations of Metaphor: A Comparative and Archaeological Perspective
(2023) Pleyer, Michael; Kuleshova, Svetlana; Zhang, Elizabeth Qing
Metaphor is central to human language and cognition. It has also been proposed to play an important role in language evolution. For these reasons, the evolution of metaphor and the cognitive processes supporting it are an important explanatory target for evolutionary accounts of human language. Here, we focus on the evolution of one particular capacity supporting metaphor, that of analogy. We integrate data from comparative psychology and cognitive archaeology to investigate the evolution of analogy as well as its evolutionary foundations. We present evidence that many aspects of analogy display evolutionary continuity between humans and non-human animals. In addition, we propose that analogical capacities can also be inferred from the archaeological record by looking at productional diversity in tool-making. Overall, we argue that analogy as an important cognitive process supporting metaphor has deep evolutionary roots.
Vacuous Intertextuality? Stanisław Lem’s Memoirs Found in a Bathtub and Its Intertextual Relations
(The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, 2024-08-03) Wołk, Marcin
The article discusses intertextuality in Stanisław Lem’s novel, Memoirs Found
in a Bathtub (1961). An analysis of Memoirs discovers references to numerous
works of literature (Kafka, Borges, Gombrowicz, Mrożek, Chekhov, Gogol,
Shakespeare, Mickiewicz, Ray Bradbury, Genet, and Jan Potocki, among
others), philosophy (Cassirer, Peirce, Lévinas), religion, popular culture,
and unwritten lore (the Bible, Greek mythology, songs, proverbs, aphorisms,
rhymes, and toasts). However, careful examination reveals that it is extremely
difficult to draw the line between connections intended by the author and
those which are accidental or read into the text by critics or readers. That
is because in Memoirs, Lem designed a work which is intertextually open,
capable of establishing a virtually infinite number of relations with other
texts and contexts, and encouraging its reader to recognize all possible links.
Intertextual references operate here collectively rather than as relationships
with individual works. Locating Memoirs in a vast, practically unlimited
intertextual space does not lead to specific, premeditated meanings, but rather
serves to multiply potential senses. In the article, this intertextual strategy
is paired with Lem’s theory that the meaning of a literary work is unstable
and is fully developed in the process of individual reception.