The current model of hunting economy, focused mainly on killing innumerable number of game species and finding joy and benefit in it, does not totally fulfil criteria of sustainable, ethical and rational management. This work provides an overview of evidences that the moral evil of hunting, together with the whole hunting culture, are not rationally justifiable. I am going to validate there is no reasonable argument for maintaining hunting economy and culture in the on-going, archaic condition. I maintain that therefore an immediate system reform of our hunting economy is necessary. There is a broad list of objection to the different aspects of hunting practices, which are presented and discussed in short in the paper. A reformed hunting institution, endowed with veterinary service, should guard some animals’ interests by different strategies of assuaging some conflicts among people and animals, as catching alive, flushing, separating or biosafety and professional reprocessing of infected corpses. The main recommendation for the ossified hunting tradition is the appeal for listening to the opinion of experts in natural sciences.

Artykuł jest próbą prezentacji poglądów filozoficznych na pochodzenie ludzkiej zdolności interpretacji i rozumienia znaczeń. Autor inspiruje się wynikamy współczesnych nauk biologicznych, kognitywistycznych i psychologicznych, w świetle których można przeciwstawiać się koncepcjom hermeneutycznym, jakie tkwią w nowożytnej tradycji antropocentrycznej. Chciałbym zarysować wyjaśnienie statusu bytowego tzw. kompetencji hermeneutycznych w formie znaturalizowanej, która nie unika płynnego stopniowania struktur czy umiejętności podmiotowych bez popadania w trywialny redukcjonizm. Będę twierdził, że choć pełne ukształtowanie procesów rozumienia pozostaje zarezerwowane dla konkretnych grup spośród gatunku ludzkiego, to można racjonalnie uzasadnić, że u odmiennych gatunków zwierząt i bezpośrednich przodków człowieka mamy już do czynienia z elementami hermeneutycznych kompetencji, które legły u podstawy pojęcia Dasein. Jeżeli zasadniczym problemem książki Konrada Lorenza Odwrotna strona zwierciadła była próba rekonstrukcji historii naturalnej ludzkiego poznania i polemika z tradycją Kanta co do istoty poznania, to niniejsza praca stanowi zalążek refleksji nad naturalną historią ludzkiego rozumienia oraz nad polemiką z antropocentryczną hermeneutyką filozoficzną. Głównym celem pracy jest przyjrzenie się hipotezie, jakoby podmiotowe egzystencjały rozumienia, nastrojenia czy bycia-w-świecie można było ujmować w formie naturalnych adaptacji organizmów ludzkich i pozaludzkich.

Samoregulacja mediów może mieć istotny wpływ na kształtowanie się kultury dziennikarskiej i poziomu etycznego mediów. Jej skuteczność jest jednak uzależniona od stopnia instytucjonalizacji narzędzi samoregulacyjnych i ich powszechnej akceptacji. Różny jest ten poziom w różnych systemach medialnych, co często warunkowane jest historycznie. Artykuł za cel przyjmuje prezentację historycznego rozwoju samoregulacji trzech systemów medialnych (francuskiego, brytyjskiego i fińskiego) wpisujących się w trzy różne modele systemów medialnych opisane przez Daniela Hallina i Paolo Manciniego i zestawienie ich z rozwojem samoregulacji mediów w Polsce.

Thin film solar cells based on multinary compound Cu(In,Ga)Se2 show record photovoltaic conversion efficiency approaching 20%. Investigation on defect physics in this compound is crucial for making further progress in the technology. In this work we present the results on photocapacitance (PC) and deep level optical spectroscopy (DLOS) for two types of cells – high efficiency Cu(In,Ga)Se2 cell with about 20% of gallium and pure gallium CuGaSe2 device. We show that PC and DLOS, employed as the techniques complimentary to deep level transient spectroscopy DLTS and admittance spectroscopy, are useful methods in providing information on defect levels in solar cells. In particular they are helpful in diffierentiating between levels belonging to the bulk of absorber and to the interface states. We tentatively assign some of the observed deep levels to InCu or GaCu antisites and Cu interstitials.

The paper presents the method of assessment of learning outcomes acquirement by students. The analysis is based on the results of the final matriculation exam in mathematics. For crisp and both types of fuzzy relations, cut scores (passing scores) can be defined along with the method of preparing rankings of students. The advantage of applying type 2 fuzzy relations is the lack of the necessity for experts to agree to one level (one number) of verification of learning outcomes by items created for the examination. Based on the results of the exam and experts’ knowledge, the decision support system for calculating the levels of learning outcomes acquirement, making decisions about passing the examination and preparing rankings of students, can be developed. Additionally, the rank reversal phenomenon does not burden the proposed method.

The article discusses an example of the use of graph search algorithms with trace of water analysis and aggregation of failures in the occurrence of a large number of failures in the Water Supply System (WSS). In the event of a catastrophic situation, based on the Water Distribution System (WDS) network model, information about detected failures, the condition and location of valves, the number of repair teams, criticality analysis, the coefficient of prioritization of individual network elements, and selected objective function, the algorithm proposes the order of repairing the failures should be analyzed. The approach proposed by the authors of the article assumes the selection of the following objective function: minimizing the time of lack of access to drinking water (with or without prioritization) and minimizing failure repair time (with or without failure aggregation). The algorithm was tested on three different water networks (small, medium, and large numbers of nodes) and three different scenarios (different numbers of failures and valves in the water network) for each selected water network. The results were compared to a valve designation approach for closure using an adjacency matrix and a Strategic Valve Management Model (SVMM).

Filtering nonwovens produced with melt-blown technology are one of the most basic materials used in the construction of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) against harmful aerosols, including bio- and nanoaerosols. The improvement of their filtering properties can be achieved by the development of quasi-permanent electric charge on the fibres. Usually corona discharge method is utilized for this purpose. In the presented study, it was assumed that the low-temperature plasma treatment could be applied as an alternative method for the manufacturing of conventional electret nonwovens for the RPE construction. Low temperature plasma treatment of polypropylene nonwovens was carried out with various process gases (argon, nitrogen, oxygen or air) in a wide range of process parameters (gas flow velocity, time of treatment and power supplied to the reactor electrodes). After the modification, nonwovens were evaluated in terms of filtration efficiency of paraffin oil mist. The stability of the modification results was tested after 12 months of storage and after conditioning at elevated temperature and relative humidity conditions. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy and ATR-IR spectroscopy were used to assess changes in surface topography and chemical composition of the fibres. The modification of melt-blown nonwovens with nitrogen, oxygen and air plasma did not result in a satisfactory improvement of the filtration efficiency. In case of argon plasma treatment, up to 82% increase of filtration efficiency of paraffin oil mist was observed in relation to untreated samples. This effect was stable after 12 months of storage in normal conditions and after thermal conditioning in (70 ± 3)°C for 24 h. The use of low-temperature plasma treatment was proven to be a promising improvement direction of filtering properties of nonwovens used for the protection of respiratory tract against harmful aerosols.

Cytostatic drugs have become one of the greatest environmental hazards. They exhibit toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic effects on flora and fauna, including people. They are poorly eliminated in conventional wastewater treatment plants and their mixtures could possess higher ecotoxicity than individual drugs. Fungi are organisms with enormous potential for biodegradation of a variety of toxic chemical pollutants. The aim of this work was to estimate tolerance of five fungal strains to selected anticancer drugs, which will be useful to determine the potential for their possible use in cytostatics removal and may be significant in the context of wastewater treatment application. Test was conducted on Fomes fomentarius (CB13), Hypholoma fasciculare (CB15), Phyllotopsis nidulans (CB14), Pleurotus ostreatus (BWPH) and Trametes versicolor (CB8) and the chosen drugs were bleomycin and vincristine. Their ability to grow in the presence of selected cytostatics was evaluated in cultures conducted on two solid media which differed in the richness of nutrient compounds. Fungal strains tolerance was expressed as a half maximal effective concentration. Results showed that fungi display better tolerance to high cytostatics’ concentrations in the medium rich in carbon source. Regardless of the medium used, the differences in growth ability were lower for bleomycin (the tolerance was higher). The greatest tolerance for bleomycin was shown by Pleurotus ostreatus. Results suggest that more efficient elimination of bleomycin would be possible to obtain, strain BWPH seems to be the best fungal candidate for this drug degradation assay and, probably, in wastewater treatment application tests in a longer perspective.

The study analysed the relationship between the granulometric composition of grassland soils as determined by laser diffraction and their content of mineral forms of nitrogen and organic carbon. The content of mineral forms of nitrogen (NO _3-N and NH _4-N) in soil samples – after their extraction with 1% solution K ₂SO ₄, was determined by flow colourimetry. Soil organic carbon content was determined using the Tyurin method. The study examined soil samples collected from 169 control and measurement sites located in different regions of Poland in terms of conditions for agricultural production. Statistical analyses of the research results showed that the grain size of grassland soils had a significant effect on their ammonium nitrogen content but not on their nitrate nitrogen and organic carbon content. In this respect, it was found that there was a positive correlation between the share of the sand fraction and the content of ammonium nitrogen in soils and an opposite relation between the share of coarse silt, fine silt and clay and the content of the aforementioned component. Results of the analyses differ considerably from the results of studies by other authors on the influence of soil grain size distribution on the content of mineral nitrogen and organic carbon in soils based on classical methods of measurements of soil particle size distribution. There is a need to develop solutions to convert and compare results obtained by laser diffraction and standard methods.

The paper presents results of the field tests on membrane biogas enrichment performed with the application of mobile membrane installation (MMI) with the feed stream up to 10 Nm3/h. The mobile installation equipped with four hollow fibre modules with polyimide type membranes was tested at four different biogas plants. Two of them were using agricultural substrates. The third one was constructed at a municipal wastewater plant and sludge was fermented in a digester and finally in the fourth case biogas was extracted from municipal waste landfill site. Differences in the concentration of bio-methane in feed in all cases were observed and trace compounds were detected as well. High selectivity polyimide membranes, in proper module arrangements, can provide a product of high methane content in all cases. The content of other trace compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide, water vapour and oxygen on the product did not exceed the values stated by standard for a biogas as a vehicle fuel. The traces of hydrogen sulphide and water vapour penetrated faster to the waste stream enriched in carbon dioxide, which could lead to further purification of the product – methane being hold in the retentate (H2O > H2S > CO2 > O2 > CH4 > N2). In the investigated cases, when concentration of N2 was low and concentration of CH4 higher than 50%, it was possible to upgrade methane to concentration above 90% in a two-stage cascade.

To performsimulation ofCH4 andCO2 permeation through polyimide membrane,MATLABwas used. Simulation program has included permeation gaseous mixture with methane contents as observed at field tests in the range of 50 and 60% vol. The mass transport process was estimated for a concurrent hollow fibre membrane module for given pressure and temperature conditions and different values of stage cut. The obtained results show good agreement with the experimental data. The highest degree of methane recovery was obtained with gas concentrating in a cascade with recycling of the retentate.