Coal mining activities carried out for 200 years in Upper Silesia have had a negative effect on buildings. T his impact is in all cases related with continuous deformations of the surface and in certain cases with discontinuous deformations (mostly cave-ins), changes in water relations and mining tremors. T he paper presents an evaluation of the impact of a mining activity on a building situated in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. T he building was affected by continuous deformations and mining tremors. Calculations were made of the values of deformation rates by means of Budryk–Knothe’s theory, which were partly verified on the basis of the results from geodetic measurements. An analysis of the velocity and acceleration of basement vibrations caused by mining-induced tremors was also conducted. T he conclusions included a high consistency between the results obtained on the basis of calculations and the values obtained by means of PGA and PGV measurements. In the case of tremors with the highest energy in the hipocentrum, there an empirical formula allowing for calculation of PGA value in given geological and mining conditions was also proposed. T he application range of the formula mentioned above is obviously limited only to the conditions in consideration. The presented conclusions indicate that at present, sufficiently precise methods, allowing for calculations for practical purposes, not only of deformation indices’ values, but also of PGV and PGA values, presently exist.

Variable speed and low voltage electrical drives are commonly operated by frequency converters. According to recent developments, there is a trend in the area of semi-conductors, that switching frequency and voltage slew rate will increase significantly. The aim of these semiconductors is to reduce the switching losses and to increase the switching frequency, which enables to reduce the size of passive components in the power- electric circuit. This results in less material effort and lower cost, for the power electronic component. However, electric motors operated by high slew rate inverters show problems in the winding insulation, which have to be analyzed. Such problems are well known for high voltage machines. Due to the increasing slew rate, this problematic occurs in low voltage machines nowadays as well. Here, the influence of fast switching semiconductors on the winding insulation system is studied, using accelerated ageing tests with fast switching high-voltage generators.

In contemporary historical writings there is a noticeable retreat from the rational methodological tradition dating back to the Enlightenment. This trend should be stopped by a new, deeper awareness of possibilities open to a rational approach to the three main spheres of historical culture, i.e. cognitive, political, and esthetic. All these spheres should be harmoniously developed in mutual interrelationship.