Maintenance is a key manufacturing function that contributes to a company’s productivity, profitability and sustainability. Unfortunately, many aspects of the contribution of maintenance to sustainability in manufacturing remain unexplored, and many enterprises are not yet ready to assess the maintenance impacts on their sustainability. Maturity models are useful tools for assessing maintenance practices; however, no maintenance maturity model that allows the evaluation of the contribution of maintenance to sustainable performance was found in literature. This paper proposes a model for assessing the maturity and sustainability of maintenance processes. The model outputs are: a measure of the maintenance and sustainability maturity level; recommendations for improvement to undertake to enhance maintenance maturity and, thus, meet sustainability standards. The model was applied in three manufacturing enterprises: the calculation of their maintenance maturity and sustainability indices made the maintenance stakeholders more aware of the need to implement effective strategies for more sustainable maintenance performance.

The general objective of this research has been to identify the factors and conditions of migration of CaCO3 within glaciers and their marginal zones in Svalbard . Special attention has been paid to the cryochemical processes responsible for precipitation of calcium carbonate in icing (naled ice) formed near fronts of polythermal glaciers during winter. Estimates of the importance of those processes in respect of the general mineral mass transfer in the glacier system are attempted here. Field studies concerning the carbonate contents in proglacial sediments and icing fields were carried out in the Werenskioldbreen and the Elisebreen basins (S and NW Spitsbergen respectively). A functional model of CaCO3 migration in a glacier system is proposed which indicates the various paths of the mineral mass flow. Considerations on intensity of glacial processes permitted quantitative estimation of the particular components in respect to the Werenskioldbreen basin. Cryochemical processes do not appear to be of overriding importance in such migration but, clearly, they play a specific role in retaining CaCO3 in the proglacial zone on land. The crystalline forms present in the icings, which have many lattice defects, are very easily re-dissolved or removed by wind.

The shallow water benthic fauna was collected in Kongsfjord, West Spitsbergen. Sampling was conducted along two main environmental gradients: vertical gradient (depth 5–50 m) and horizontal gradient (sedimentation regime) along the fjord axis. A small rectangular dredge was used. Altogether 169 taxa were identified and four macrofaunal associations were distinguished. Bottom type and distance from the tidal glaciers seem to be the main factors responsible for species distribution. The Soft Bottom I Association occupying the fine mud of the Kongsbreen glacial bay consisted mostly of Crustacea with high dominance of scavenging amphipod Onisimus caricus. Bivalves prevailed in the Soft Bottom II Association, located further away from the main glacier outflows. The barren rocky shelf, deprived of vegetation by a sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis was inhabited by the Rocky Shelf Association dominated by decapods. The last distinguished association (the Kelp Association) occurred on the hard bottom overgrown with macroalgae. The gastropod Margarites helicinus and amphipods Ischyrocerus spp. made up 60% of the individuals collected there.

An article presented hereby relates to valuation of undeveloped deposits of minerals which are not sold on markets in unprocessed form and their processing into a marketable commodity calls for construction of an additional plant which usually is not operated by a mining company. In practices lignite and limestone deposits fall into the above defined category. Difficulties in their valuation are caused by their two major properties: any economically justifiable development of such deposits can be carried out only in close co-operation with a neighboring power plant or cement factory and development of such fields is usually lengthy. Therefore, out of four methods recommended by the POLVAL Code to be used for valuation of undeveloped mineral deposits only the options based approach seems to offer, however with some important limitations, useful tools for appraisal of lignite and limestone deposits.

ARGUMENTUM

Varii clandestini coetus in Polonia a Germanis occupata vario modo solvere conabantur quaestionem, quomodo Poloni hoste debellato educari deberent. Eae factiones, quae communismo favebant, volebant parvi momenti esse in schola artes liberales atque linguam Latinam, quippe quibus studiis vulgus ab educatione arce retur.