The aim of this article is to present the author’s opinion about possible underwater natural gas pipeline monitoring using Polish Navy resources. Due to the bathymetrical characteristics of the pipeline equatorials the high efficiency and safe for the deck operators systems are expected to support the bottom survey and gas line monitoring. Time and engaged resources reduction are crucial factors in this kind of mission together with high probability of possible dangerous objects detection. The paper describes main threats for the underwater transportation line as a state energetic independence vital object (supplies diversification). An example of a threat caused by lost unmanned platform technologies near Nord Stream was presented and analyzed as well. The rapid development of unmanned maritime technologies (aerial, surface and subsurface) observed in the last decade creates new possibilities in maritime security/surveillance applications. The Polish mine counter measures assets which were equipped with sophisticated AUV’s as a part of the Polish Navy modernization process (new minehunters Kormoran IInd class deployable). The presented autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) are equipped with advanced sonars and create new possibilities in the issue of effective threats detection/classification/ identification and neutralization. The main advantages of such solutions were pointed in the article with the crucial one based on time reduction as well as human – deck operators threats constraints. The first successes in the operational use of unmanned systems were reached during the military exercises (historical ordnance disposal) conducted on historical mine laying areas. This creates good possibilities to train the unmanned system operators in live objects activity which improves skills and knowledge. Moreover, the double use applications of unmanned technologies both in defense and maritime security has been observed.

Port cities are having diff erent spatial structure than those located inlands. As a result of their seaside location, they face specifi c administrative and functional problems on a daily basis. In the economic and settlement structure of the country, they usually play the role of a “gate” through which streams of cargo are distributed further over the whole hinterland. It is the transport and logistics function of port cities, as well as the water bodies located in their area, that determine their spatial character to the greatest extent. The confi guration of the two above- mentioned factors, together with other development conditions, determines the model of spatial changes taking place in port cities. Additionally, evolving shipping technologies aff ect the contemporary development of the ports’ and port cities’ spatial structure.

In the nineteenth century a clause concerning civil liability was attached to insurance documents in maritime transport. Concretely, this confirmed the insurer's acceptance of three-quarters of the liability for any collision. The ship owner accepted one quarter of the liability. Ship owners, wishing to spread the material risk of damages connected with the collision of vessels, began to join together in so-called mutual insurance clubs. Thirteen of the largest mutual insurance clubs formed a society called the International Group of P and I Clubs. This insures and reinsures more than 90% of world tonnage (and almost 100% of the cargo of European tonnage). The author discusses the decision of the European Commission (1999/329/WE) which grants the International Group of P and I Clubs exemption from the prohibition of cartel collusion and from two agreements: the International Group Agreement and the International Pooling Agreement, to both o f which it exclusively applies. The first agreement limits competition between clubs and the possibility of bringing a ship owner insured in one club into another club by offering him a lower rate. The second agreement concerns the spreading o f the risk o f liability for claims among members of the Group.

This paper considers a Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) machine prototype with six poles and 36 stator slots including a three phase double-layered distributed winding. Presented modifications of rotor construction are identified in order to achieve the best possible compromise of eddy-current losses and cogging torque characteristics. The permanent magnet (PM) eddy-current loss is relatively low compared with the iron loss; it may cause significant heating of the PMs due to the relatively poor heat dissipation from the rotor and it results in partial irreversible demagnetization. A reduction in both losses is achieved by magnet segmentation mounted on the rotor. Various numbers of magnet segmentation is analysed. The presented work concerns the computation of the no-load iron loss in the stator, rotor yoke and eddy-current loss in the magnets. It is shown that the construction of the rotor with segmented magnets can significantly reduce the PM loss (eddy-current loss). The eddy-current loss in PMs is caused by several machine features; the winding structure and large stator slot openings cause flux den sity variations that induce eddy-currents in the PMs. The effect of these changes on the BLDC motor design is examined in order to improve the machine performance. 3-D finite-element analysis (FEA) is used to investigate the electromagnetic behaviour of the BLDC motor.

U-turn lanes eliminate left turns at intersections and allow the manoeuvre to be made via median crossovers beyond the intersection. However, there are many situations where road infrastructures are characterized by the reduced width of the median. It is clear that, in such situations, we must adopt design criteria that take into account limitations imposed by the width of the cross-section of the road. This is the reason why it is necessary to adopt design solutions which expect a complete reorganization of the road section affected by the insertion of U-turns. In this paper, we intend to propose original guidelines for U-turn lane design, suitable to guarantee both the necessity to offer a high level of functionality of the road sections to be implemented by U-turns, and the principles of safety in order to reduce unsafe conditions during inversion manoeuvres as much as possible.

This article deals with the first phase of Jerzy Jankowski’s severing ties with the Young Poland movement and his access to the futurist avant-garde. His conversion to the new poetic worldview, which he pioneered in Poland, was reflected in his articles and poems published in Widnokrąg [Horizon], a magazine he founded in 1913 to replace Tydzień [The Week], of which he was the main publisher. The rebranding came on top of disagreements between the magazine’s contributors. The divergent views focused on the assessment of Tadeusz Miciński’s novel Xiądz Faust. In May 1913, in his former magazine, Jankowski heaped praises on it. However, the following year, when it came up for debate in the Widnokrąg between Miciński’s aficionado Zygmunt Kisielewski and the skeptically-minded Leon Choromański, Jankowski sought to distance himself from both the emotionalism and the intellectualism of his colleagues. By that time he was absolutely adamant that the antinomies of Young Poland’s high art were a trap. Now that the worship of art striving for timeless perfection would have to give way to an unpretentious concern for ‘fugitive art’, the time was ripe for working out a new aesthetic, centered on the thrilling ‘beauty of big cities’, cabaret, cinema, and modern machines. Jankowski broke with his erstwhile mentor Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Zenon Przesmycki-Miriam, to follow the incomparably more exciting Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Meanwhile, Choromański made one last attempt to bring the young man back on track by writing an article, in which he argued that Futurism was crude, and shallow, a throwback rather than a modern breakthrough. However, his warnings made no dint in Jankowski’s faith in futurism. For him its triumph was a matter of historical necessity. And, he had already thrown in his lot with the new movement by publishing his first futurist poems, ‘Spłon lotnika’ [‘Pilot in flames’] and ‘Maggi’.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the image of a garnet bracelet in the story of the same name by Aleksandr Kuprin. The grant bracelet is considered as a complex, multidimensional image with intentionally contradictory semantics. This is a kind of amulet of Zheltkov, along with which he gives his life to Princess Vera. Red and yellow garnet stones symbolize the near death of the donor, and the power of his love, and eternal life. The giving of the bracelet at the same time symbolizes the conclusion of a mystical marriage between its owner and Vera Sheina. Complex symbolic meanings arise due to references to various texts and plots, especially the myth of Pluto and Persephone (the parallel is based on the homonymy of garnet-mineral and pomegranate-fruit in Russian). In the symbolis of Kuprin's story, a kinship with the poetics of Russian symbolism is traced.

The natural gas supply is used from Russia Federation as a political instrument in the geopolitical and territorial conflict with Ukraine. The effectiveness of Russian strategy towards Ukraine is due to the fact that power in Kiev is also exercised by the pro-Russian politicians and supported on the part of Ukrainian oligarchs. The two countries are interdependent in terms of energy by means of the existing gas infrastructure and long-term contracts, because Ukraine guarantees the Russian Federation the transit of natural gas to Europe through its system of transmission gas pipelines, and Russia pays for the transit and used to supply the agreed amount of gas to Ukraine. For the first time – in 2016 – Ukraine didn’t import natural gas directly from the Russia Federation. This article attempts to obtain an answer to the research question, whether Ukraine actually strives to diversify its natural gas supply. What part of this policy is the Ukrainian political instrument in terms of Russia, and what part is the real political objective? Especially in the context of the gas contract between both States, ending in 2019. What role will be played the underground gas storage in the geopolitical struggle? Despite Nord Stream II the Russian Federation still needs the Ukrainian pipelines to fulfill contractual obligations in gas supplies to Europe. What are the strategic goals of the energy policy of Ukraine and Russia? The geopolitical as well as geo-economic theories will be applied. Moreover, a factor analysis as well as a decision-making analysis will be used. The political analysis method and the forecasting technique are applied to obtain, not only theoretical, but also practical input.