This paper outlines effect of the mix composition on mechanical properties of high–strength concrete based on aggregate size like in of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) but without fiber reinforcement. The main purpose which guided the authors choosing proportion of water and superplasticizer (SP) was to achieve a similar consistency in the test slump for various concrete mix. Test results for 3 groups of superplasticizers, designated as D – with chemical base – acrylic polymer, V – with chemical base – polycarboxylate ether, P – with chemical base – modified polycarboxylates, two cement groups, designated as Cem A – with fineness Blaine 3980 cm ²/g, Cem B – with fineness Blaine 4430 cm ²/g and 2 types of aggregate: basalt and granite were presented. After curing for 1, 7 and 28 days samples were tested for compressive strength and flexural tensile strength. The article also presents the study of the elemental composition and structure of the SP with the use of the SEM electron microscope. The amount of solid particles in the SP was also determined by the water vaporization. The assumption of the paper was to maintain the consistency of the mixture at the S2 level according to the Eurocode standard. The paper proposes a method based on SEM analysis in order to select a superplasticizer with the best ductility parameters, and the best results of the compressive and flexural tensile strength of concrete samples were obtained. The best results for compressive strength after 28 days are obtained for concrete series with the polycarboxylate ether superplasticizer and modified polycarboxylate ether superplasticizer in combination with the use of type A cement and it is greater than for the concrete series with type B cement by 11.7%.

Stefan Żeromski’s historical novel Popioły [Ashes] (1904) is usually interpreted as a narrative about the Napoleonic wars, particularly about Napoleon’s campaign in Spain. The paper argues that the fast-moving war plot conceals the philosophical question to which Żeromski tried to provide an answer: did the Austrian empire represent a superior way of organizing human society, or was the liberty of the Polish “Sarmatian” republic a more appropriate answer to the question of how to live? The issue is indirectly contested by virtually all characters. It comes to a head in the relationship between two seemingly secondary characters, the Austrian tax collector Hibl and the Polish landowner Nardzewski. The former resembles William Faulkner’s Flem Snopes; the latter, the noble families of the Sartorises defeated in the Civil War. Like in Faulkner’s novels, there is an unmistakable suggestion of gloria victis in Żeromski’s opus. Unlike Faulkner, Żeromski brings to bear the issue of white-on-white colonialism in Europe, and the paper’s author suggests that the eighteenth-century seizure of parts of Poland by Europe’s three continental empires was an instance of European colonialism that delayed the development of non-Germanic Central Europe and eventually brought about twentieth-century European wars.

Studies of isotopic ages were conducted for rock samples of the Keller, Visca Anchorage and Domeyko Glacier formations. Together they form a part of the Martel Inlet Group, a terrestrial calc-alkaline volcanic and volcanoclastic suite and they crop out along the Keller Peninsula on King George Island. The U-Pb and 40Ar-39Ar isotope data from the Keller Peninsula lava flows, although differing in quality, made it possible to obtain reliable age intervals. The stratified volcanogenic rocks of Keller Peninsula, Visca Anchorage and Domeyko Glacier formations of the Keller Peninsula were emplaced there near the Early/Late Palaeocene boundary (ca. 62.11 ± 0.66 Ma ago), in the Early Eocene (ca. 56.3–51.9 Ma) and near the Early/Middle Eocene boundary (ca. 49.9–47.9 Ma), respectively. A certain difference in the ages of Eocene volcanogenic formations, in particular tectonic blocks of King George Island, may indicate a migration of centres of volcanic activity over time, from northwest to southeast.