Willingness to Communicate and Second Language Speech Fluency: An Idiodynamic Investigation of Attractor States

Willingness to communicate (WTC) has recently been researched as a dynamic variable, with some investigations viewing it as a complex dynamic system (CDS). One important property associated with CDS is the notion of attractor states, which are characterized by stable patterns of behavior. The present study employed an idiodynamic method to monitor per-second WTC changes with 20 participants during three-minute speaking tasks. Using idiodynamic graphs illustrating the WTC dynamics, patterns of stability were identified as the unit of analysis for WTC attractors. Temporal measures of the utterances that coincided with the WTC attractors were also examined. Results demonstrated that attractors were likely to emerge in both WTC and L2 fluency, and largely depended on two categories of content-related and linguistic-cognitive factors. Data analysis also indicates that WTC and L2 fluency exhibited parallel dynamics in most of the cases. The study’s findings yield pedagogical implications that are discussed at the end.

Analysis of influence of elastic properties of deadwood bearings on shaft line operability

The paper considers the ship shafting and its design. Depending on the constructive features, operating conditions, effects of continuous, dynamic, variable and random loads the operation of the shaft line is accompanied by wear of the shafting structure and auxiliary parts. The formulas for calculating the maximum permissible clearances during operation in stern bearings of propeller shafts are given, according to the norms and technical and operational requirements. A graph of the maximum permissible clearances in metal stern bearings is presented. There has been carried out a dynamic design of the shaft line in order to define the influence of rigid characteristics of the stern bearings on eigen frequency of transverse vibrations. It is noted that the service life of the shaft line depends on the material of bushings or liners of the bearings (bakout, babbit, textolite, caprolon, bronze, polyurethanes, rubber) and their wear degree. The design scheme of the ship shaft line on elastic supports with a coefficient of rigidity is presented. To assess the influence of the elastic properties of deadwood bearings, the method of initial parameters was used. According to the researchers’ opinion, the greater the wear, the lower their stiffness coefficient. At a certain wear degree of deadwood bearings, there occurs resonance at the lowest operating frequencies. It has been proved that the greater the deflection at the attachment point of the propeller, the lower the eigen frequency of transverse vibrations of the shaft line. It has been pointed out that the calculations should include the separation of the shaft line from the deadwood bearing, since it contributes to a decrease in eigen frequency and causes a resonance during transverse vibrations.

The History of the Becoming of the Self-Conscious Soul as the Culminating

The article dwells on the amalgam of meanings and interpretations that have arisen in connection to Andrei Bely’s major work of the 1920s The History of the Becoming of the Self-Conscious Soul. This paper is dedicated to the first complete edition of this literature and philosophical piece that took place in 2020, two decades after the book was first — and partially — published in 1999. The very process of publishing and the temporal gaps that marked the stages in the life of this work is important for better understanding of the trends in interpreting the motifs and concepts of Bely. This study anticipates the inconsistencies of various attempts to understand the conceptual mechanism of Bely and thus has the scope of clarifying such concerning takes and contrasting them to the ways of addressing conceptual issues that Bely uses in his entire oeuvre. With the 1999 publication fueling interest to the self-conscious soul, it represented, however, just a first approximation — and this one, quite incoherent in interpretations, should be amplified towards a fuller elaboration. The analyzed corpus of secondary literature reveals that in a few articles devoted to main ideas of The History of the Becoming of the Self-Conscious Soul there are numerous inaccuracies of perception and reinterpretation even in the basic concepts. For better understanding of Bely, it is fruitful to consider his ideas not from outside worldview positions. Quite the opposite, do it with the view to internal consonance, to anthroposophical foundations. Otherwise, misunderstanding of such concepts as culture, individual, I, personality, self-consciousness is inevitable. The article notes a number of features of their modern perception. First, these concepts are taken not in the dynamic, variable, gradational way, but in a rational and static way, with one or more meaning torn out of the variation series. Further, Bely, contrary to his own judgments about the Steinerian foundations of his work, is considered to have various influences and parallels, based on external similarities. Finally, Bely’s anthroposophical ideas themselves are reinterpreted and radical differences in comparison with anthroposophy are found. The article also reveals fruitful judgments about the essence of The Нistory and examines first of all the articles of Karen A. Swassjan who examines Bely’s history of culture as a personal history of the formation of consciousness — as material for a biography.

Analysis of winding temperature field under dynamic variable load of oil-immersed transformer

The research on the temperature field of the transformer winding under dynamic variable load is of great significance for ensuring the safe operation of power systems. This paper takes an SSP-360000/500 transformer as the research object, establishes a 2-D simulation model, and uses the finite volume method to analyze the high voltage winding and low voltage winding temperature distribution of the transformer under dynamic variable load. The simulation calculation results have been fully verified by the experimental data to make the successful prediction of the overall temperature and hot spot temperature position of forced oil circulation transformers with a guided structure. The results show that the most significant temperature raise occurs at the secondary end of the winding. In the case of dynamic variable load. The temperature raise of the winding becomes larger as the load increases, but before the rated load is in the stable temperature rise range, it can run safely for a long time. However, during overload operation, the average temperature raise of the high voltage winding may exceed its limit, the insulation material is damaged.

Willingness to Communicate in English among non-English Major Malaysian Undergraduates

Current policies to second language teaching (L2) put great emphasis on improving the communicative skills of the learners. Teachers, however, found that some learners avoid L2 communication despite their excellent proficiency level in the target language. The literature on learners' reticence highlights the considerable number of studies available on willingness to communicate (WTC). However, most of the studies were conducted in the contexts that bear little resemblance to a multicultural Malaysia. The present study aimed to explore how interlocutors and contexts contribute to the participants' WTC level. Data were gathered through face-to-face interviews (n = 14). The findings revealed that the participants' WTC fluctuate across interlocutors and contexts. The evidence from the current findings confirms the notion that WTC is a dynamic variable. However, the present data offers an alternative view concerning fluctuation across interlocutors. The paper concludes with pedagogical implications