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Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), genetic algorithms, case based reasoning (CBR), and hybrid systems are all methods of artificial intelligence. This dissertation presents a literature overview and its author’s achievements in methods of utilizing artificial intelligence methods in energy efficient buildings, which include: an expert system for supporting the financing of thermo-modernization investment, a method of optimizing thermo-modernization strategies for groups of buildings using genetic algorithms, and a case based reasoning system (CBR) intended to facilitate the design of energy efficient single family housing. Case based reasoning consists of comparing new problems with past problems and using a past solution. In the CBR system, previously developed single family housing designs will be described using linguistic variables defined as fuzzy sets. The designer, who wants to create the documentation for a new energy efficient building after talking with the investor about his or her expectations, enters a query, defined as linguistic variables, into the system. The system finds the documentation of already constructed buildings, most closely matching the investor’s requirements. The designer performs the required adjustments, and after the investor’s approval, places the new documentation into the database for further use.

Civil engineering structures are highly responsible for the negative aspects of urbanization on the hydrological cycle. Due to the land cover change and an increase of impervious areas the risk of flooding can rise significantly. The paper presents the impact of urbanization processes on surface runoff estimation for a small mountainous catchment between 1990-2012.

In Poland, there are more than 5 million single-family detached houses, and 35% among them are non-insulated. In the article, we present a concept of application of the case-based reasoning (CBR) systems to support the process of energy retrofit of single-family detached houses. In the proposed CBR system, the energy retrofit process was described using parameters with text and numeric values and also using linguistic variables defined using fuzzy sets. If an investor, designer or contractor encounters a problem in the process of the energy retrofit, he may look for a solution to this problem or similar problems in the CBR system. If he does not find a solution and creates it himself or modifies an existing one, he should put it in the CBR system so that others can benefit from his experience. The proposed CBR system will help in solving the basic Polish (but also Eastern European) problem of energy-saving constructions which is the lack of adequate knowledge of participants in the investment process.

This article concerns the Life Cycle Assessment method of evaluation and the ways in which it can be applied as a tool facilitating the design of buildings to reduce embodied energy and embodied carbon. Three variants of a building were examined with the same functional ground plan and usable floor area of 142.6 m2. Each variant of the building was designed using different construction technologies: bricklaying technology utilizing autoclaved aerated concrete popular in Poland, wooden frame insulated with mineral wool, and the Straw-bale technology. Using digital models (Building Information Model) the building’s energy characteristics was simulated and the embodied energy and embodied carbon of the production stage (also called cradle-to-gate) were calculated. The performed calculations were used to compare the cumulative energy and embodied carbon of each variant for a 40 year long life cycle.

Nowadays in the construction sector, there are many challenges regarding technical and economic problems as well as those associated with the impact on human health and environment. Solving these problems is not straightforward and requires the involvement of experts from different fields. Expert systems are interesting and complex solutions for the above-mentioned aspects. The article presents characteristics of Polish and world experts system in which the authors participated.

This article proposes to present the issue of insularity in the archipelago of Cape Verde, an African country marked by several centuries of Portuguese colonization, with particular emphasis on the analysis of the interrelation between socio-historical factors and linguistic phenomena that occurred in this insular coun-try. Taking into consideration this context, we will draw attention to the importance of insularity in the process of miscegenation of the populations in the colonial era, to the process of the formation of Creole as a result of multilingual contacts, as well as to the long process of the construction of the social identity of Cape Verdeans in the history of this society.

This paper presents a numerical method for determining the pressure distribution along the fluid flow path in a cross-current hightemperature heat exchanger. The pressure drop across the superheater was determined using the momentum conservation equation, which was solved by the finite difference method. Local pressure losses at tube elbows were also taken into account. A new formula for calculating friction factor on rough tubes' inner surface is proposed. A straightforward model for the friction factor in tubes with a rough inner surface for Reynolds numbers in the interval 3000 - 108 has been proposed. The pressure distribution in the last stage of the live steam superheater in a 900 MWe supercritical boiler was calculated.

In this paper we will analyze semantic relations between various types of adverbials and grammatical tenses. As we shall see, it is necessary that adverbials which occur in statements do not come into contradiction with essential values represented by morphemes of verbal flexion. On the contrary, adverbials can block the use of certain grammatical tenses. In particular, we will discuss all cases of interpropositional incompatibility between the referred constituents of a statement, always motiwated [i.e. motivated] by semantic reasons.

In Portuguese America, the general languages were the languages of indigenous origin used by the administration and the Church as an instrument of interethnic communication. These languages were spoken by everyone who was part of the colonial system. In the Brazilian territory, two general languageswere formed in very different linguistic contexts: the Língua Geral Paulista (LGP) and the Língua Geral Amazónica (LGA). Established in the 16th century, LGP emerged in the São Vicente region and was widely spread by the bandeirantes of São Paulo to other states in the 17th and 18th centuries. After a period of great expansion, and because of the political and social changes that took place in colonial society, this general language lost its hegemony in the 19th century and ceased to be spoken at the beginning of the 20th century. The article aims to analyse the socio-historical conditions that led to the formation, expansion, weakening and disappearance of the General Language of São Paulo.

The Structure of Creole Verb Forms The study examines the morphosyntactic features of a creole verb system, as well as the principles of its functioning. It focuses on the markers of tense, mood and aspect (the TMA system) that, due to the uniqueness of the system’s functioning, have been investigated for many decades. The examples quoted in the paper come from Santiaguense, the oldest form of Cape Verde Creole that developed in the 16th century on the lexical basis of Portuguese.

A new method for thermal calculations of the cross-flow tube heat exchangers was proposed. The temperature of both fluids and the wall temperature are determined. The heat exchanger is divided into control volumes, in which outlet fluid temperatures are calculated by closed analytical formulas. Two examples of the application of the method for the calculation of two-pass cross-co-current and cross-countercurrent superheaters were presented. An exact analytical model was also developed for both superheaters to estimate the accuracy of the proposed method. The results of the superheater calculations using the developed method are in good agreement with the results obtained by the exact analytical models. The proposed method can be used to calculate heat exchangers with a complicated flow system in which the physical properties of fluids are temperature-dependent.

What Shall be Understood under Creole Language? Creole languages are being formed as a result of language contact in multicultural and multilingual societies. Why is it that some circumstances are advantageous for their formation while others do not positively influence their formation? Which circumstances are crucial in order for a creole language to be formed? What does the entire process look like? Is the formation of a creole language a universal phenomenon or does it depend on the era and the place? Which creole languages are the most common in the world? Where do they come from? Do they have any characteristic features? These are the key questions that this paper attempts to answer.

Pidgins and Other Vehicular Languages Vehicular languages are languages which are used as a mean of communication in multicultural and multilingual societies; therefore the key to understanding the essence of vehicular languages is to analyse linguistic contact. The purpose of this study is to analyse such vehicular languages as: pidgin, lingua franca, and sabir, as well as to present the similarities and differences between them. An additional goal is to show the different types of vehicular languages which were used all around the world.

Multilingualism of the societies of former Portuguese colonies in Africa The goal of the article is to present the multilingualism in the countries emerged from former Portuguese colonies in Africa where, alongside the official Portuguese, more or less numerous native African languages are to be found together with various mixed languages. All of the analysed countries are bi- or multilingual, in each the status of Portuguese is different, and so are the number and the status of national languages. In some, creole languages have developed while in others such mixed languages do not exist. One might ponder the reasons for this linguistic diversification, and as a result, observe both the differences and the shared characteristics of the analysed countries, and identify the factors that might have created this sharp contrast. It is the goal of the present paper to attempt to answer these questions.

The aim of the article is to present a critical comparison of different business models of Virtual Power Plant and pointing out both the common and the unique features for each model. Therefore, the American, German, Finnish, Danish and Australian VPP’s business models are described in the article. The VPP is an IT structure which integrates different types of distributed energy sources, flexible consumers and energy storage with each other and with other market segments in real time through a smart grid. The VPP gives positive effects on electricity grid like ensuring energy security, improving grid stability and reliability, optimization of energy resources use, lowering the load - demand response, regulation of frequency, using operational reserves, management of peak demand. The business model is perceived as a method of increasing and exploitation of company’s resources for preparing new products or services for customers in order to obtain added value (expanding the competition advantage or increasing profitability). A potential VPP’s business model in Polish conditions was proposed in case of two different types of customers.

The behaviour of energy and heat consumers is an important and interesting topic. For a long time the energy market was the classical example of a monopoly. In general, households are weak partners for energy companies, but energy markets are changing all over the world. This trend is noticeable in Poland too, but it is not as strong as in Germany or other countries where renewable energy sources (RES) are very popular and widely used. So, here we investigate why the development of RES in Poland is so weak. The main aim of the paper is to highlight the key factors, especially ecological and economic ones, determining households’ decisions about installing RES in Poland. An additional aim is to present the level of energy awareness of households. We conducted a survey of Lower Silesia’s households in November and December 2015. Economic factors are the best motivators for households to install RES. Among the economic aspects, the respondents indicated potential savings and potential profits.