The paper presents a technique for measuring membrane displacements with one motionless camera. The method consists in measuring the distance to an object based on one image obtained from a motionless camera with a fixed-focus lens. The essence of the proposed measurement technique is to determine changes of the distance between a membrane and a video camera based on analysis of changes in the focus view of a marker placed on the membrane plane. It is proven that the used technique allows to monitor the frequency and amplitude of the membrane vibration. The tests were performed for the oscillation frequency in the range from 0.5 Hz to 6 Hz and deviations from the neutral position in the range of ±3 mm.

Reasoning with limited computational resources (such as time or memory) is an important problem, in particular in knowledge-intensive embedded systems. Classical logic is usually considered inappropriate for this purpose as no guarantees regarding deadlines can be made. One of the more interesting approaches to address this problem is built around the concept of

active logics. Although a step in the right direction, active logics are just a preliminary attempt towards finding an acceptable solution. Our work is based on the assumption that labelled deductive systems (LDSs) offer appropriate metamathematical methodology to study the problem. As a first step, we have reformulated a pair of active logics systems, namely the memory model and its formalized simplification, the step logic, as LDSs. This paper presents our motivation behind this project, followed by an overview of the investigations on meta-reasoning relevant to this work, and introduces in some reasonable detail the MM system.

The paper contains a philosophical deconstruction of a notion of the "catastrophe" as historical phenomenon. The Author points out some characteristics of the catastrophic concept of the reality as they were expressed in the literary discourse in Poland in the period ofjin de siecle and in the poetry and prose of the WWII. The philosophical preconditions of catastrophic thinking are related to the literary expression present in narration of famous Polish poets and writers: Kazimierz Przerwa Tetmajer, Jan Kasprowicz, KrzysztofKamil Baczyński, Tadeusz Borowski and Gustaw Herling-Grudziński.

The analysis of water self-purification process includes headstreams of rivers in the Upper Silesian agglomeration: the Bierawka, the Kłodnica, Bielszowicki creek and the Szotkówka. These are rivers characterized by small natural flows and a significant anthropogenic pol I utant load. Results of our own research on the self-purification rate were used. The attention was focused on biodegradable substances. The biodegradation rate coefficient k, and water assimilative capacity were determined. Within the same rivers, their particular parts differ in types of a riverbed and swift currents alternate with slow flows. In the case of Bielszowicki creek and the Szotkówka River impoundments were observed, which results in different self-purification conditions. In all investigated parts the rate of organic substance removal, characterized byk, coefficients, was usually much higher than the literature values for comparable rivers, which usually are below 2.0, rarely exceeding 3.0. The creek impoundments occurring in the watercourse beds do not always have a positive impact on the water quality. The role of the creek impoundments in the river self-purification process and their impact on water ecosystems require separate investigations.

During the rutting season, stag semen is accompanied by a sticky, dense secretion called yellow fraction (YF). There is little information about the role, biology, physiology, and most importantly, the composition of this fluid. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify zinc ions (ZnBPs) and heparin binding proteins (HBPs) from YF of the red deer ( Cervus elaphus L.). Using liquid chromatography, the presence of 6 fractions of ZnBPs (71, 65, 55, 16, 14 and 12 kDa) and 22 fractions of HBPs (163, 140, 96, 78, 71, 65, 55, 49, 33, 31, 26, 25, 24, 22, 18, 16, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9 and 8 kDa) in YF proteome was demonstrated. By means of two-dimensional electrophoreses and MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry some of them were then identified. Amongst ZnBPs the following were identified: glutaminyl-peptide cyclotransferase, inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase-like, potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily E member 2, WD repeat-containing protein 38 isoform X4. Amongst the HBPs metalloproteinase inhibitor 2 (TIMP2), seminal plasma glycoprotein PSP-I and adseverin (scinderin) were identified. Identifying all ZnBPs and HBPs present in YF may broaden up-to-date knowledge concerning the biology, physiology and preservation of red deer semen.