Mineral deposits are such type of assets, the valuation of which can be carried out in a very diverse manner. Methods and procedures for such a valuation are most often applied to mineral deposits with mineral reserves (according to the CRIRSCO classification), much less frequently and usually only using a comparative approach for undeveloped, initially recognized mineral deposits (with mineral resources).

In Poland, a significant portion of mineral deposits, mainly of energy, metal and chemical minerals, are covered by the so-called mining property of the Treasury. At the moment, there is a lack of consistent and thoughtful management of these deposits. The appropriate methodology for valuing these deposits, which are at various stages of recognition (sometimes also of development), should be one of the key elements of such management. The State Treasury usually disposes of mining rights by “establishing” mining usufruct in the form of a contract, with the determination of remuneration for this establishment. The rules for determining remuneration for the establishment of mining usufruct are determined on the basis of an internal informal document of the Ministry of the Environment with very simplified rules for determining this remuneration, to a very limited extent related to the actual value of the deposit, which is also variable over time. This fee should be in close relation to the value of the mineral deposit valued at a given moment, taking the current conditions, including technological, environmental, formal and legal, and – in particular – market conditions into account. The valuation of mineral deposits covered by mining property, except for current needs in determining the basis for remuneration for mining usufruct establishing, should also be used to determine the value of these deposits annually as part of the State Treasury property and to present its results as part of the State Treasury Property Status Report.

It is an open matter whether the methodology of valuation of the discussed mineral deposits should be based on accepted and widely used solutions for the valuation of mineral deposits for the purposes of business transactions or based on methodology of valuation of deposits as part of the planned system of Integrated Environmental and Economic National Account (up to date poorly developed). The paper presents the most important elements of both methodological approaches. It seems that the use of selected elements of each of these approaches would be advisable in this case.

In this article, we propose the realization of XNOR logic function by using all-optical XOR and NOT logic gates. Initially, both XOR and NOT gates are designed, simulated and optimized for high contrast outputs. T-shaped waveguides are created on the photonic crystal platform to realize these logic gates. An extra input is used to perform the inversion operation in the NOT gate. Inputs in both the gates are applied with out of phase so as to have a destructive interference between them and produce negligible intensity for logic ‘0'. The XOR and NOT gates are simulated using Finite Difference Time Domain method which results with a high contrast ratio of 55.23 dB and 54.83 dB, respectively at a response time of 0.136 ps and 0.1256 ps. Later, both the gates are cascaded by superimposing the output branch of the waveguide of XOR gate with the input branch of the waveguide of NOT gate so that it can be resulted with compact size for XNOR logic function. The resultant structure of XNOR logic came out with the contrast ratio of 12.27 dB at a response time of 0.1588 ps. Finally, it can be concluded that the proposed structures with fair output performance can suitably be applied in the design of photonic integrated circuits for high speed computing and telecommunication systems.

The Lower Devonian ‘Placoderm Sandstone’ in the Holy Cross Mountains (HCM) is filled with abundant impressions

of disarticulated vertebrate remains. The only acanthodian macroremains named to date are fin spines

of Machaeracanthus polonicus Gürich. Fin spine impressions in slabs from the Winna Formation (Emsian) at

Podłazie Hill (near Daleszyce) in the southern HCM, and also the Barcza Formation (?Lochkovian) at Barcza

Quarry, Miedziana Góra Conglomerate (?Lochkovian), Gruchawka, and Zagórze Formation (middle–upper

Emsian) at Bukowa Mountain in the northern HCM, reposited in the University of Warsaw, Polish Geological

Institute-National Research Institute, Warsaw, and Natural History Museum, London collections, have been cast

and studied in order to better document this poorly known taxon. As noted in other Machaeracanthus species,

we have found that M. polonicus has two different morphotypes of spines, which abut lengthwise to form a pair

of spines. Our investigations show that the fin spine assemblage includes Onchus overathensis as well as M.

polonicus, and probably another undetermined acanthodian. The affinities of O. overathensis are reassessed.

It is here considered to be a diplacanthiform, and reassigned to the genus Striacanthus, as S. overathensis.

Acanthodian scapulocoracoids have also been identified, as well as tightly spiralled toothwhorls which could

be from an acanthodian.

Fourteen symposia on early/lower vertebrates have taken place over the last 50 years, usually at about four year

intervals. An average 60 participants have taken part at these symposia, with over one hundred occasionally. The

results of the symposia have been published in proceedings. The symposia started honoring E. A:son Stensiö and

E. Jarvik. Honors were taken up at the 11th symposium in Uppsala again. Since the 13th symposium a Stensiö

award is also given to young researchers in the field.

Material of tesseraspids (Tesseraspidiformes) is reported from the uppermost Severnaya Zemlya Formation

(Lochkovian, Lower Devonian) of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, in the Russian Arctic, where it is associated

with other vertebrate remains, including corvaspids, acanthodians, and large but rare specimens of

osteostracans. The tesseraspid material is not abundant, and most often preserved as a “patchwork” of bony

platelets (tesserae), except for a few partly articulated specimens. We redescribe the holotype of Tesseraspis

mosaica Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1983, whose head carapace is preserved as a flattened tube of adjacent tesserae.

This material is compared to the already published tesseraspid taxa, i.e., T. tessellata Wills, 1935, T. toombsi

Tarlo, 1964, T. mutabilis (Brotzen, 1934), T. oervigi Tarlo, 1964 emend. Dineley and Loeffler, 1976, T. denisoni

Tarlo, 1964, and T. talimaae Tarlo, 1965. All species are based upon rare and incomplete material, as no

head carapaces associated with trunk and tail are known, and so, the intraspecific variability is also unknown.

Distinction between “species” is based on the detail of the superficial sculpture of the tesserae of the head carapaces,

which is unsatisfactory. It is concluded that only four of the nominal species can be retained. A review

of all other known tessellated pteraspidomorphs indicates that our knowledge of tessellated heterostracans is

currently insufficient to support a meaningful classification.

Placoid and polyodontode scales of stem chondrichthyans have been found in the early Lochkovian “Ditton

Group” of the Brown Clee Hill district, Shropshire, England and at Talgarth, south Wales. One of the forms is

assigned to a new species of Altholepis Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1997, a genus already recognised from Lochkovian

shallow marine deposits in Celtiberia, Spain and the Northwest Territories, Canada as well as the type locality in

Podolia, Ukraine. Altholepis salopensis sp. nov. is based on small polyodontode scales with typically three to eight

high odontodes; the scale form was previously considered to belong to acanthodian “Nostolepis” robusta (Brotzen,

1934). The structure of other scales formerly assigned to “Nostolepis” robusta has led us to erect a new genus

Jolepis for this scale form, which differs from Altholepis in lacking an ordered layout of odontodes. Jolepis robusta

(Brotzen, 1934), originally (and possibly still) considered to be an acanthodian, is also known from the Baltic

countries, Russia, and northern Germany (ex erratic limestones). Scales of acanthodian Parexus recurvus Agassiz,

1845, and/or possibly from the stem chondrichthyan Seretolepis elegans Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1968 (scales of these

two taxa are barely distinguishable), and of stem chondrichthyan Polymerolepis whitei Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1968

are also present. Altholepis, Jolepis gen. nov., Seretolepis Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1968 and Polymerolepis Karatajūtė-

Talimaa, 1968 are found in marine deposits elsewhere; the British occurrence of these taxa adds to the debate on

the sedimentological origins of the Lower Old Red Sandstone deposits in the Welsh Borderland. The geographic

range of several early sharks is now known to extend around the Old Red Sandstone continent and beyond.

Ischnacanthus gracilis (Egerton, 1861), the only ischnacanthiform acanthodian from the Lochkovian Lower

Old Red Sandstone of Scotland, is known from hundreds of specimens in institutional collections worldwide.

Despite this relative abundance, morphology and histology of its skeletal elements have rarely been investigated.

Surface details of spines, dental elements, and scales are often not visible in specimens because they are

usually split through the middle. We have examined a broad size range of fish, from 35 mm to 250 mm long.

Several intact (not split) specimens have been collected in recent years and acid-prepared to show fine details of

the dermal and dental elements. We have also used scanning electron microscopy of scales, jaws and dental elements,

denticles and fin spines, and serial thin sectioning of articulated specimens, to document their structure.

Some of our notable observations include: identification of ventral lateral lines, double-layered subtessellate

calcified cartilage forming the jaws, and the probable occurrence of extraoral tricuspid denticles on the jaws

of most fish. Examination of the size range, body proportions and dentition of institutional specimens gives no

support for recognising more than one species in the Midland Valley localities.

Between 2014 and 2016 the number of foreigners on the Polish labour market increased by over 300 per cent. They were mainly Ukrainian citizens taking up seasonal employment on the basis of the so-called ‘sim-plified system’. According to the literature, such a large increase in labour immigration in a short period of time may be an important factor in the growth of unemployment and the reduction of the employment rate of natives. The main purpose of this text is to show the correlation between the increase in the employment of foreigners in Poland and to determine whether or not this has had an impact on the deterioration of the state of the labour market. For this purpose, data from the Central Statistical Office and the Polish Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy were collected. As a result of our analysis, it was found that the significant increase in the presence of foreigners on the Polish labour market, which the country has faced in recent years, was not correlated with the rise in unemployment, the increase in the rate of economic inactivity and the availability of seasonal jobs. On this basis, we can state that the increase in the supply of foreigners on the Polish labour market, compared to other factors influencing it, was weak enough for the negative effects of the increased employment of foreigners to not occur.

This article deals with migrants’ experiences of precarious working conditions in the cleaning and con-struction industries in the Danish labour market as seen from their perspective. The experiences are retained through biographical narrative interviews with migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe and are used to gain an understanding of the concrete strategies they apply when coping with their short-term contracts, demanding working hours, risk of unemployment and other insecurities. Mi-grants’ experiences of precarity and insecurity in their work is confirmed, to some degree, in numerous research studies. However, the resistance and strategies expressed by the migrant workers in their nar-ratives show that they have also developed specific ways to cope with this precarity. The article con-tributes to a new understanding of migrants’ responses to precarity in which they engage their social and cultural resources to cope with the labour market conditions they face in Denmark.

Numerous Russian media professionals have moved to Ukraine in the last decade. These migrants can be seen as contemporary mobile, highly skilled, transnationally connected professionals who made a lifestyle choice by relocating to Ukraine. However, after the EuroMaidan, their move has also become increasingly political. Drawing upon a series of interviews with Russian media professionals living and working in Ukraine – and addressing their social relationships, professional practices and thoughts on return migration – I analyse the ways in which the lifestyles of these ‘middling transnationals’ can be affected by the political tensions between host and home countries. This paper draws upon the idea of transnational ties being not necessarily durable and supportive but, rather, flexible and multi-direc-tional. I argue that the annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in Donbas have altered migrants’ cross-border connections with Russia; however, instead of tying them to a place and excluding them from global networks, it might also push them towards inhabiting multiple transnational spaces. These observations highlight the political dimension of ‘middling transnationalism’ which is usually not con-sidered in migration scholarship.

While the number of forced migrants moving out of conflict-ridden or otherwise troubled regions into rela-tively stable and safe parts of the world is higher than ever, the countries of destination are increasingly trying to prevent migrants from reaching their territories. Given the scale of forced displacement and current trends of tightening immigration policies, it should be expected that tragedies at the borders, similar to that recently witnessed in Europe, will become the norm rather than the exception and that new discourses and practices will continue to emerge, transforming territorial borders in various parts of the world into highly conflictual and politicised ‘borderspaces’. This article is a contribution to the understanding of borders through a case study of the recent policy of ‘closed doors’ that Poland has adopted towards Russia’s North Caucasus asylum seekers at the country’s eastern border with Belarus, preventing them from entering the territory and claiming protection. It demonstrates that, through the process of ‘bordering’, power is no longer exercised only by the border guards at the crossing point in Terespol from where asylum seekers are being returned and that it is increasingly to be found in social practices that occur on both sides of the border, away from the clearance points. The article examines the various practices of resistance undertaken by the asylum seekers and other actors on several different levels in response to the changed reality at the border. It also analyses the meanings and discourses developed by Polish state actors in order to legitimise restrictive migration policies.

This article examines the connection between media use and social in/security from the perspective of Finnish Russian-speakers. Based on 25 interviews conducted in Finland in 2015–2016, it analyses the ways in which people in conflict situations mitigate social risks and attempt to produce security by governing their use of the media. Drawing from von Benda-Beckmann and von Benda-Beckmann’s work on social security, the article argues that security studies ought to include transnational media use in their scope and broaden the emphasis towards the social and societal aspects of threat and insecurity. Furthermore, it explains how, in times of conflict, transnational media may turn into a digitalised ‘war zone’ with alarming consequences on the identification and social security of their audiences.

In the post-communist era, the European migration space changed significantly. It has become charac-terised predominantly by temporary labour migration and new forms of circular, return and onward migration which are collectively theorised as ‘liquid’. The 2004/2007 eastward expansion of the EU resulted in the re-emergence of large-scale East-West intra-EU migration; however, Czechia continues to have one of the lowest levels of emigration among EU member-states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This article analyses Czech migration to New Zealand, which constitutes a considerable portion of overall Czech emigration. It is hypothesised that this flow can be understood as an example of ‘liquid’ migration beyond the EU to a distant settler society. Data from Immigration New Zealand and Stats NZ are examined to identify the trends, patterns and sociodemographic profile of Czech-to-New Zealand migration; other secondary sources provide a preliminary sketch of the motivations behind (and lived experiences of) Czech migrants in New Zealand. The study finds that this migration is increasing – mostly for temporary work, holidaying or visiting friends and relatives – and one of the largest, young-est and most recently arrived migrant groups from the CEE EU-10 countries. It is concluded that Czechia’s comparatively high standard of living may be an explanatory factor behind the relatively large flow of its people to New Zealand and that further qualitative investigation is needed to elucidate the motivations and diverse experiences of individual Czech migrants. The article ultimately contributes to comparative migration studies by exploring a potentially unique case of liquid migration to a tradi-tional settler society.

This report discusses the ways in which Muslim communities form in Poland, with particular emphasis on the role of migrant men and women from Muslim countries, broken down into activities carried out mainly by women and mainly by men. The division of activities sometimes goes beyond the patterns of Muslim communities in other countries. The specificity of the Muslim community in Poland is related to: the historical context of the origins of its creation, i.e. the presence of Polish Tatars, a small number of Muslims living in Poland, and their diversity in terms of countries of origin.

This article examines how migration to Wales modifies Polish Catholic families’ religious practices. It focuses on how the First Communion ceremony is performed. Within the Polish migrant community I witnessed three distinct ways of arranging this. Some families travelled to Poland to their parish churches of origin. Of those who celebrated it in Wales, some did so in a Polish church, others in their children’s Catholic school’s church. These choices had different effects. Holding First Communion in Poland confirmed children’s Polish identity and home-country bonds. It exemplified both the fluidity of the families’ intra-European migration experience and the strength of transnational networking. Hold-ing it in the local Polish parish reinforced both families’ and childrens’ identification as Polish Catho-lics. In the school’s church, it strengthened migrant families’ negotiations of belonging and their children’s integration into the Welsh locality. Mothers’ active involvement in all settings led some to contest Polish religious customs and revealed emerging identifications related to children’s wellbeing and belonging. Unlike arrangements traditional in Poland, families’ religious practices in Wales seem to have become more individual, less collective.

The paper addresses the issue of culture shock and the challenges met in the process of adaptation to a new culture, as experienced by international students studying in Poland. Until recently, Poland has not been regarded as a very attractive educational market. Poland joining the EU in 2004 contributed to a surge in various types of migrant arriving in the country, including international students. However, for the last few years the number of young people coming to Poland in order to study has been growing steadily. Yet, this growth does not mean that state, local or university authorities have any knowledge of how to resolve possible future conflicts which might and often do arise between overseas students and the society which receives them, or of how to help these students with their everyday problems. This dilemma is the result of a lack of studies regarding this group. Previous studies regarding migrants in Poland were only slightly focused on international students. In spite of the fact that international stu-dents are migrants, they differ significantly from other types of migrant – mostly those who are in Poland for economic or political reasons. The aim of the research presented in this article was therefore to carry out an initial exploration of the problems which this group encounters both at university and in society. The research was carried out in two stages with medical students in Łódź. The first stage was a paper-based questionnaire completed by international students studying at the Medical University of Łódź (N=74). The second stage involved three focus-group interviews conducted with some of these students.

In cities with large educational institutions, the inflow of educational migrants is important for con-sumption demand, and can trigger multiplier effects. The main aim of this article is to show the mecha-nism of the aggregate demand-income effect created by educational migration in the Polish city of Opole. An estimate of this effect is provided, based on questionnaire research among a sample of 1 075 students from all institutions of higher education located in the city. The estimated effects analysed concern the direct consumption impulse, as well as the indirect job creation and increase in income for providers of accommodation for students, in turn triggering increased consumption demand. While the results must be interpreted with care, an estimated 15 per cent of consumption demand created through expenditure of migrant students (about PLN 175 400 000) and 485 extra job show the significance of such expenditure for the local economy.

In this article I discuss the need for more systematic integration of approaches dealing with religious beliefs and practices into the discussion about sources and areas of gender social changes that occur in global migration. Firstly, starting from the discussion about negative representations of religiosity in contemporary debates, I consider from theoretical and methodological perspectives why we should move the religious dimension from the margins more to the centre of analysis. Secondly, basing on an exploratory review of empirical research about intersections of religion and gender in the lives of in-ternational migrants, I discuss findings that reveal about religion as a potential mediator in the gen-dered revolution. I answer how they help to understand the complexities and ambivalences of social changes and identify the areas they concern. I argue that the revolutionary potential that arises at the intersection of migration, gender and religion is not limited to changing gender orders in religious organisations. It is religious beliefs themselves that influence migrants’ everyday lives and challenge the existing gendered contract in lay areas, in work relations, civic and political participation.