This paper presents the results of obtaining and investigations of Pb1–xBax(Zr1–yTiy)1–zSnzO3 (PBZTS) ceramics with constant x = 0.03 and y = 0.02, and variable z = 0, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.08 (abbreviations of the samples were following PBZTS0, PBZTS4, PBZTS6, PBZTS8, respectively). The investigated compositions are close to rhombohedral-orthorhombic morphotropic phase boundary. The ceramic samples have been obtained by conventional ceramic technology from simple oxides PbO, ZrO2, TiO2, SnO2 and barium carbonate BaCO3. The ceramic powders, after calcination, have been pressed into discs and sintered using free sintering (FS) method. For samples obtained in such a way, the dielectric properties at various frequencies and electrical conductivity have been investigated. The increase of Sn content orders the microstructure of ceramics, and as a result the improvement of the dielectric properties of ceramic samples can be obtained.

This paper models income distribution in four Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic) in 1990s and 2000s using parametric models of income distribution. In particular, we use the generalized beta distribution of the second kind (GB2), which has been found in the previous literature to give an excellent fit to income distributions across time and countries. We have found that for Poland and Hungary, the GB2 model fits the data better than its nested alternatives (the Dagum and Singh-Maddala distributions). However, for Czech Republic and Slovak Republic the Dagum model is as good as the GB2 and may be preferred due to its simpler functional form. The paper also found that the tails of parametric income distribution in the Czech Republic, Poland and the Slovak Republic have become fatter in the course of transformation to market economy, which provides evidence for growing income bi-polarization in these societies. Statistical inference on changes in income inequality based on parametric Lorenz dominance suggests that, independently of inequality index used, income inequality in the Czech Republic, Poland and the Slovak Republic has increased during transformation. For Hungary, there is no Lorenz dominance and conclusions about the direction of changes in income inequality depend on the cardinal inequality measure used.

Urbanization has a far-reaching impact on the environment, economy, political and social processes. Therefore, understanding the spatial distribution and evolution of human settlements is a key element in planning strategies that ensure the sustainable development of urban and rural settlements. Accordingly, it is very important to map human settlements and to monitor the development of cities and villages. Therefore, the problem of settlements has found its reflection in the creation of global databases of urban areas. Global settlement data have extraordinary value. These data allow us to carry out the quantitative and qualitative analyses as well as to compare the settlement network at a regional, national and global scale. However, the possibility of conducting both spatial and attribute analyses of these data would be even more valuable. The article describes how to prepare raster data so that they can be implemented into a vector database. It answers the questions whether it is possible to combine these data with databases available in Poland and what benefits it brings. It presents the methods of data generalization and the optimization of time and disk space. As a result of the study, two vector databases with GUF data were developed. The first database resolution is similar to the original (~12 m resolution) database, the second database contains less detailed (~20 m resolution) data, generalized using mathematical morphology. Both databases have been enriched with descriptive data obtained from the National Geodetic and Cartographic Resource.

Microorganisms invisible to the naked eye, billions living in every gram of soil, can have an impact on such global processes as the level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

The issues of local stability and ultimate resistance of a continuous beam with thin-walled box section (Class 4) were reduced to the analysis of the local buckling of bilaterally elastically restrained internal plate of the compression flange at longitudinal stress variation. Critical stress of the local buckling was determined using the so-called Critical Plate Method (CPM). In the method, the effect of the elastic restraint of the component walls of the bar section and the effect of longitudinal stress variation that results from varying distribution of bending moments were taken into account. On that basis, appropriate effective characteristics of reliable sections were determined. Additionally, ultimate resistances of those sections were estimated. The impact of longitudinal stress variation and of the degree of elastic restraint of longitudinal edges on, respectively, the local buckling of compression flanges in the span section (p) and support section (s) was analysed. The influence of the span length of the continuous beam and of the relative plate slenderness of the compression flange on the critical ultimate resistance of box sections was examined.

Bezludne wyspy pojawiają się w dwóch tekstach Gilles’a Deleuze’a. Pierwszy z nich to krótki esej z lat 50. pt. Causes et raisons des îles désertes, drugi to appendyx do Logiki sensu – Michel Tournier i świat bez bliźniego z roku 1969. Rekonstrukcji drugiego z tych tekstów dokonał Jakub Tercz w artykule Bliźni w filozofii Deleuze’a („Przegląd Filozoficzny” 2015, nr 1). Doceniam tę pracę, chociaż nie podzielam jej wniosków. Za problemy z właściwą interpretacją pojęcia bliźniego (i jego „zniknięcia”) w dużej mierze odpowiada sam Deleuze. Jego lektura powieści M. Tourniera Piętaszek czyli otchłanie Pacyfiku, bazująca na kategoriach transcendentalnych, intersubiektywnych struktur, zapoznaje obecne tam materialistyczne potencjały. Pod tym względem bardziej obiecujący – choć zarazem ezopowy i ezoteryczny – wydaje się wcześniejszy ze wspomnianych tekstów Deleuze’a. Rozpoznaje on, że w historii Robinsona obecne są także stawki polityczne, a jego mit daje się czytać, a nawet należy to robić, w sposób krytyczny (w marksowskim, a nie w kantowskim sensie). Dlatego w ostatniej części artykułu oddaję głos Tournierowi i jego Piętaszkowi, aby razem z nimi pomyśleć bardziej immanentystyczną i obfitszą w linie ujścia teorię robinsonady.

In this article, an outline of the key questions connected with the essential problems of energy-consumption of air-stream moulding machines has been presented. Research results and calculations of requisite parameters appraisable of energy-consumption of air-stream moulding machines have been supplemented also by the data analysis of offer of the moulding machines manufacturers. The attention on constructional and technological factors which are favourable for the diminution of energy-consuming of the moulding process has been paid.

The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that environmental impacts exerted by manufactured products throughout their entire life cycle are major aspects to be considered, alongside their functional features and cost-effectiveness. One of the available methods to evaluate environmental impacts is known to as the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The study summarises the reports from the literature on the subject of environmental impact assessment. In conclusions, the authors indicate the need for assessing the environmental impact of cast products made from conventional and newly introduced alloys.

In recent years adverse processes of suburbanization have been observed in cities. It has become a serious challenge for urban and transport planners, as it influences largely the quality of space, the quality of life, and the cost of running the city. This paper is dedicated to travel models in areas serviced by a railway system, and is based on a real-life survey example of the Błonie community, a district belonging to the Warsaw metropolitan area. Research carried out in 2014 focused on combined travels behaviors recorded using GPS locators as well as quantitative research (volumes of users across various transport systems).

In the article the author discusses peculiarities of three areas of psychologists’ professional activity: conducting scientific research, educating new generations of psychologists, and having a private practice. He particularly stresses the significance of empirical testability of theories for correct and ethical assessment practice (according to Evidence-Based Assessment standard) and therapeutic practice (according to Evidence-Based Practice in Psychology standard). The author also explores the cultural immersion of psychological activity.

This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of severe plastic deformation (SPD) by extrusion combined with reversible torsion (KoBo) method on microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-5Cu and Al-25Cu alloys. The extrusion combined with reversible torsion was carried out using reduction coefficient of λ = 30 and λ = 98. In this work, the microstructure was characterized by light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Compression test and tensile test were performed for deformed alloys. The binary Al-5Cu and Al-25Cu alloys consist of the face cantered cubic (FCC) α phase in the form of dendrites and tetragonal (C16) θ-Al2Cu intermetallic phase observed in interdentritic regions. The increase of Cu content leads to increase of interdentritic regions. The microstructure of the alloys is refined after applying KoB deformation with λ = 30 and λ = 98. Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of Al-5Cu alloy after KoBo deformation with λ = 30 and λ = 98 reached about 200 MPa. UTS for samples of Al-25Cu with λ = 30 and λ = 98 increased compared to Al-5Cu alloy and exceed 320 MPa and 270 MPa respectively. All samples showed increase of plasticity with increase of reduction coefficient. Independently of reduction coefficient, the compressive strain of Al-5Cu alloys is about 60%. The Al-25Cu alloy with λ = 98 showed the value of compressive strain exceed 60%, although for this same alloy but with λ = 30, the compressive strain is only 35%.