Artificial Intelligence begins to play an increasingly important role in medicine, in particular in diagnostics, therapy selection and drug design. This article shows how the latest machine learning algorithms support the work of physicians and pharmacists. However, the effective implementation of Artificial Intelligence methods in everyday medical practice requires overcoming a number of barriers. These challenges are discussed in the article. The objectives and functioning of the Artificial Intelligence Center in Medicine of the Medical University of Bialystok were also discussed, as an example of Polish contribution to the development of the latest computer algorithms supporting diagnostics and therapy.

Lithium was one of the first elements (besides hydrogen and helium) after the Big Bang. As a chemical element was identified in 1818. In the 19th century, Carl Lange treated periodic depression with lithium, based on the „uric acid diathesis” concept. In 1949, John Cade demonstrated the therapeutic effect of lithium in manic states. In 1963, Geoffrey Hartigan found that long-term lithium administration prevents recurrences in mood disorders, and lithium became a prototype of mood-stabilizing drugs. Currently, lithium is regarded as a first-line drug for preventing manic and depressive recurrences in mood disorders, and is useful for the treatment of manic and depressive episodes and the augmentation of antidepressants. Among mood-stabilizers, lithium exerts the strongest anti-suicidal activity. A negative correlation between lithium in drinking water and suicides was described. Lithium exerts immunomodulatory and antiviral actions, mostly against herpes viruses. The neuroprotective effect of lithium manifests by increasing the grey matter in the brain and reducing the risk of dementia. Lithium's mechanisms include influencing intracellular signaling and inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3. Using lithium in a greater number of patients with mood disorders has been recommended. Lithium’s introduction into contemporary psychiatry and therapeutic action has been reflected in literature and art.

The text begins with etymological reflections on the term “art” in various European languages and its numerous connotations. Five main basic meanings of the notion of art are enumerated and described, such as: disposition for action, this very action, the realm of life consisting of some kind of actions, the rules of action, and the results of action. Subsequently, two main traditional purposes of artistic actions are indicated and characterized, which are beauty and reality. This pair of notions implies four kinds of artistic creation: aesthetic/anti-aesthetic mimetism/ antimimetism. The term of mimetism can be applied both to the imitation of nature, as well as to the imitation of preceding artists. In the latter interpretation, a different classification appears: classical/original mimetism/antimimetism. Next, Maria Gołaszewska’s definition of contemporary art is discussed in the light of previous analysis. In the conclusion of the essay the final characteristic of contemporary art is presented with a quote from Arthur Rimbaud’s poem, as “absolutely modern”.

Maternal-fetal medicine is a dynamically developing field, which enables not only to diagnose and treat maternal diseases but also condtions of an unoborn child developing in a womb. Fetal therapy is a highly specialized branch of maternal-fetal medicine which offers surgeries before birth. Prenatal intervensions aim to correct or diminish unfavorable effects of a fetal congenital defect. However, the starting point for a succesful intrauterine therapy is always a thorough prenatal diagnosis and an extensive knowledge regarding fetal pathophysiology in each case. Fetal surgery is now an established but still rapidly evolving specialty, born from the rationale that destructive embryologic processes, recognized early in gestation, can be curtailed by prenatal correction. Prenatal surgical techniques have evolved from highly invasive interventions involving hysterotomy to minimally- invasive fetoscopic interventions. However, there is still space for research aiming to find solutions including pharmacological treatment. In this review we aimed to present various conditions in which fetal surgery has been attempted and the present the current status of this specialty.

This article has three objectives. The first one is to compare and interpret the exceptionally large social and economic costs of policy errors by central authorities in Greece 2000–2010, Poland 1970–1980 and the G7 countries 2000–2010. The second objective is to analyse the risks to the pace and stability of Poland’s economic growth and the state of public finances after 2020. The third objective is to propose policy adjustments in responses to these risks in the period 2023–2030.

Trust and trustworthiness are crucial for science: equally for the scientific knowledge, scientific institutions and scientific community. For scientific knowledge the main criterion of trustworthiness is the search for truth, for scientific institutions it is the regime of autonomy, and for scientific community – respecting the ethos of science: norms of universalism, communalism, disinterestedness and organized scepticism (peer review and meritocracy). In the traditional academic science due to these criteria the level of deviance (fraud, plagiarism etc.) was very low. Alas in current post-academic science we witness numerous occurrence of fake knowledge, loss of autonomy of academic institutions and the neglect of the ethos of science among scholars. There are several processes responsible for this condition: fiscalisation, privatization, marketization, bureaucratization, and the pressure of non-academic, external forces and interests on scientific community. The regaining of autonomy and reactivation of academic culture (primarily the ethos of science), are the preconditions for overcoming the current crisis of trustworthiness in science.

Tadeusz Bielicki – distinguished Polish anthropologist, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), long-term director of the Department of Anthropology of PAN in Wroclaw (1971–2001), passed away on June 20, 2022. He was born in Warsaw in 1932 and began his studies at the University of Warsaw (1950–1953). These were interrupted in 1953 when he spent 6 months in prison on political charges. He was thereafter allowed to resume his studies, but at a different university. He chose the University of Wrocław. There he graduated with a M.Sc. in 1956, earned his Ph.D. in 1959, and D.Sc. in 1968. Since 1983, he has been corresponding member and, since 1996, a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1971 he was appointed director of the Department of Anthropology of PAN in Wrocław and, in 1999, Chairman of the Division of Biological Sciences of PAN. From 1992–1996 he was vice-president of the European Anthropological Association. In 1959–1960 he studied at the University of California in Los Angeles on a post-doctoral fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation for a year, and in 1967–1968 taught as Visiting Professor at Washington State University. He has also worked as Visiting Professor at Vrije Universiteit in Brussels (1989) and the University of Texas at Austin (1991). He was one of 22 co-authors of the UNESCO Statement on Race and Racial Prejudice (Moscow, 1964). He was author of ca. 150 articles and research reports, many of them published in leading anthropological journals in the U.S. and Great Britain. Professor Bielicki is best known for his indepth critique of the typological concept of race (1960s), issues related to human evolution (e.g., “Deviation-amplifying cybernetic systems and hominid evolution”, 1969), and, most notably, for his anthropological studies of social stratification. During the 1970s his research centered mainly on analyses of the tempo of growth and maturation during adolescence; since 1980 his interest shifted to the use of such data (as well as of data on rates of premature mortality among adults and on the incidence of obesity) for analyses of social-class inequalities in living standards and of inter-generation changes in the magnitude of such inequalities. For his outstanding achievements in the field of science, and in recognition of the significance of his work, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

Professor Zdzislaw Chlewinski was the creator and head of the Department of Experimental Psychology at the Catholic University of Lublin. His main interests were focused on decision-making and risk-taking, and in general – on human cognition, including errors in thinking. As a scholar, researcher and educator, he was concerned with methodological precision and the use of computational methods in psychological research. As a man of science and a Catholic priest, he was distinguished by his open-mindedness, cognitive curiosity, tolerance and social commitment. The article presents the Professor's scientific profile and research, publication and organizational achievements.

Irena Reślińska (Kwilecka) was the eminent expert in the fields of Polish philology, linguistic and religiosity. Born in environs of Kalisz (in Great Poland), she studied Polish philology and sociology in Poznań in the years 1948–1952, and first was appointed as assistant at the University until 1964, and then in Department of Slavistics (Zakład Słowianoznawstwa) of Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Bohemian Studies. Her teachers and mentors were Stanisław Urbańczyk and Stefan Vrtel-Wierczyński. In 1952 she married Andrzej Kwilecki (1928–2019) – later the famous sociologist. She received her PhD in 1964, habilitation in 1970, the title of professor in 1990, and she retired in 1996. The most important achievements of I. Kwilecka were: the discovery in 1955 of the manuscript inheritance of polish writer and predicant Thomas of Zbrudzewo (*ca 1500, † 1567), the discovery of Latin-Polish Dictionary of Bartholomew of Bydgoszcz ( *ca 1480, † 1548) – both these important sources to linguistic and religious life in Poland on the eve of modern era were the subject of numerous studies of Kwilecka and her team. She died in the middle of 2022.

Profiles of the three Polish humanists as remembered by prof. Michał Głowiński.

The article presents the results of research on the impact of the Polish system of research evaluation on art universities and the scholarly (research and artistic) activity of their employees. The research is based on interviews conducted with 60 employees of public art colleges and art faculties operating at universities. The results suggest that the evaluation system has an impact on both the research and artistic activities of employees and the functioning of the university. This impact includes the use by academics and university managers of a variety of strategies and ways of ‘gaming’ undertaken to meet the requirements of the evaluation system. At the same time, our study showed that the impact of the evaluation system depends on the broader context of the functioning of art universities, which operate at the interface of two sectors: culture and science.

The paper describes the design and construction of the Włocławek water barrage operating on Vistula River for more than 50 years. The construction of the barrage and the damming up of the Vistula River caused changes in the hydraulic and thermal regime of a fifty-kilometre long stretch of the Vistula River, resulting in some ecological changes as well. Some ecologists consider these changes as eminently unfavourable and call for the dismantling of the barrage, but not all experts are of the same opinion as the construction may be regarded as a important technical, economic and social achievement, primarily because of the electricity produced, which is renewable and ecologically clean.

Using Scopus and Web of Science databases we identified the Polish scientists with the highest number of publications, citations, and h-index in the field of pharmacy, pharmacology, and physiology. 148 such researchers were identified and then assigned to the research units in which they are employed. 31 such units were identified and analyzed.

This paper discusses the issue of just transition and presents the general directions of Poland’s energy transition until 2040. The just transition plays an important role in the process of Poland’s green energy transition and not without reason – it is the first pillar of Poland’s Energy Policy until 2040. Therefore, the paper attempts to discuss the legal, economic and social aspects of the planned changes. The next part of the paper describes the just transition from the level of the European Union. It points out what challenges member states are facing and what actions they will have to take to meet the transition requirements set by the European goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Particular attention was paid to the activities of the European Commission, which is particularly involved in the process of transforming the European Union’s energy mix. This issue is extremely important for our country as it is going to be the major beneficiary of the EU transition fund.
The penultimate section discusses research performed from 15 to 20 February 2022 on a group of 120 people living in different regions of Poland. The respondents answered a series of questions about general aspects of the energy transition, a just transition as well as the risks resulting from following the European Union’s climate and energy trends. Based on the answers provided, pie charts and bar graphs have been produced in order to make the analysis of the issues discussed clear and understandable. The whole study was concluded with a summary.

The main objective of this paper is (і) to determinate the energy sector as an important part of the resource economy in conditions of increasing epidemiological risks, and (іі) to present the potential of crisis management instruments to influence and strengthen the energy sector in Ukraine. This study uses expert assessments and monographic methods (for the assessment of crisis-management instruments) graphical methods Practical measures aimed at improving and reshaping the energy sector in Ukraine are defined by means of synthesis and economic analysis; statistical and interstate comparisons are used to analyze the Spanish experience of anti-crisis management measures in the post-COVID energy sector.
The study of the world electricity distribution issue shows its direct connection with the energy production source, including renewable energy use, which increased under the impact of COVID-19. The analysis of developed crisis-management systems provides the basis to propose measures to improve and reshape the energy sector in Ukraine. Thus, the results section represents findings to strengthen the energy sector, supporting crisis-management-system development in Ukraine.
The study is a part of a research cycle on energy-sector development, its management and financing. The proposed measures to improve and reshape the energy sector in Ukraine can be applied to specific energy-sector projects, the optimization of investments in the energy sector, as well as being used for the modeling of complex crisis-management systems of various spheres of the economy.

This paper discusses the impact of the European Green Deal policy on the clean energy transformation in the European Union, focusing on the generation of electricity reaching a significant milestone for the EU in 2020 – renewable energy sources for the first time in history surpassing combined fossil fuels in the generation of electrical energy. This achievement, although partially influenced by the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and the electricity demand shock, is primarily an effect of the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package implementing the European Green Deal strategy designed to position the EU as a global leader in the green transformation, leading by example and turning climate challenges into a growth opportunity, and in doing so presenting an optimistic policy perspective for a global transformation towards a 100% renewable energy world, thus supporting mitigation of the global-warming threats by significantly cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. With the immediate effects of the 2018 recast Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001/EU) and other related clean-energy policies under the umbrella of the European Green Deal, coal and lignite electric generation has fallen in 2020 by as much as 22% (87 TWh) and the nuclear generation has dropped by 11% (79 TWh), with natural gas to a much lesser extent, yet still noting an annual drop of 3%, while renewables grew, surpassing the combined fossil fuels electricity output in the whole of the EU. This is an impressive result confirmed in late 2021 and a hallmark of the European Green Deal initial success, the sustainability of which is yet to be assessed in the coming years, especially in view of the recent international situation of major destabilization. In this context, it should be added that although the newest 2022 Global Energy Review report by the IEA confirmed in 2021, the highest global CO ₂emission level in history (following the post -pandemic economic rebound and also due to the gas-price crisis of late 2021 causing gas-to-coal shifts in electricity-mix, which in the EU, resulted in a 7% relative annual emissions increase), Europe’s emission level has remained in a diminishing trend following the European achievements of 2020, with an overall CO ₂ emissions decrease of 2.4% in comparison with the level of 2019. Most likely, however, the 2021 gas-price crisis was only a mere prelude to a much more robust long- -term perturbation that will be expectedly due to the war in Ukraine and the necessary sanctions policy, especially impacting the energy market and probably further hampering the green-transition process jointly with other economic factors.

This article presents the current and future situation of heat consumption in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The predicted growth of thermal loads until 2030 is shown in the example of Karaganda city. Therefore, the task of creating and implementing automated heat points into the system of heat-supply complexes of cities of the Republic of Kazakhstan is relevant. The article considers the concept of measurement and processing of information in district heating supply systems based on variable cycles of the interrogation of parameters of heat supply at the heat points. As a result of the conducted research, a microcontroller SMART-system for the implementation of rational modes of heat supply used in the process of obtaining and processing information on heat-consumption parameters and making control decisions regarding variable cycles of heat-supply-parameter interrogation at heat points was developed and implemented. The results of the study have been successfully tested on the facilities equipped with automated heat points.

The energy strategy of Ukraine until 2035 forecasts that 12% of energy production will be from biomass. Currently, the share of biomass energy in the total structure of energy supplies in Ukraine is only 2%. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the diversification of the energy sector became extremely important. Rising fuels prices, problems with the fuel supply and the availability of agricultural biomass make biofuels an attractive alternative to fossil fuels. Ukraine has the potential to develop the production and use of all types of biofuels: solid, liquid and gaseous. Currently, the existing capacity and feedstock potential of biofuel production in Ukraine have not been fully realized. The experience of leading countries in the field of biofuel production shows that at the basis of the governments’ growing commitment to developing the biofuel sector is a desire to diversify the energy supply, create new jobs, improve energy security and reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other gases that contribute to global warming. The aim of the study is to construct the theoretical and practical principles of the implementation of the strategy for biofuel production from agrobiomass in Ukraine. We came to the conclusion that the trigger for the development of the bioenergy industry is the adoption at the state level of the strategy for the production of biofuels from agrobiomass. The implementation of the strategy for biofuel production will help to increase the production and use of biofuels that will strengthen Ukraine’s energy sector, help to stabilize fuel prices and will have a positive impact on the economic development of the country.

This paper proves that the trend of development of modern transport in the world is to maximize the level of providing the personal use of electric vehicles. This mechanism would also partially solve the environmental problems of mankind. To implement this idea, some global automakers have announced the decision of the full transition of production to electric vehicles. At the same time, for effective functioning of the electric-vehicle market, adequate infrastructure needs to be created. There is a positive trend in the annual growth of the charging-station network in developed countries, that characterizes the charging-station market as dynamic and promising, but mostly chaotic and imbalanced at the regional level.
The main hypothesis of the research is about the independence between the level of electric-vehicle market development and networks of charging stations. The object of the study is the Washington (USA) electric-vehicle market, as it is the market segment with the highest development characteristics.
To test the hypothesis, the authors provided a multifactor analysis of the local electric-vehicle market and the existing charging infrastructure. A comprehensive analysis of the electric-vehicle market and the charging-station network in Washington (USA) was performed, and the market characteristics were defined accordingly: the degree of electric-vehicle spread in the regional localities; the level of charging-station-network coverage and concentration; the ratio of electric vehicles to charging stations.
Authors identified the tendency of the state location to innovations connected with electric vehicles. Clusterization and recommendations according to the level of development of the electric-vehicle market aimed to balance and grow the total electric-vehicle market and connected infrastructure.

The smart-city concept refers to a city that uses information and communication technologies to increase the interactivity and efficiency of urban infrastructure and its components, as well as raising awareness among residents of, for example, such socially important issues as energy efficiency and decarbonization. The current priorities and strategic goals of cities and metropolitan areas include climate protection, the reduction of pollution caused by the use of means of transport and heat or energy sources. The development of technology and the evolving smart-city concept are in line with the more efficient use of resources, global demographic trends, and ongoing urbanization processes. This results from the evolving potential of cities that the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) have set in motion. A change in the way cities function is a part of the concept of sustainable development, which involves the thoughtful use of resources in such a way that they are sufficient to not only ensure the well-being of the present generation but to also meet the needs of the future. Particularly important is the principle of sustainable development, which involves the greatest possible synergy between people and the world around them. Therefore, the essence of the idea of sustainable development is the pursuit of the well-being of society while maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem. Studies carried out among inhabitants of cities show that according to their understanding of the smart-city concept, the technological element is as important as the fact that the city is resident-friendly, smartly managed, and well organized, and the entities needed are always in the right place and at the right time. The purpose of this study is to analyze the innovation potential of selected cities of a large metropolis in terms of the smart city concept and 4T capitals. The subject is related to the search by city authorities for new models and tools to shape sustainable development in order to improve their residents’ access to municipal services and amenities, as well as to increase their influence on the future of their cities in such difficult ongoing processes as decarbonization. The main objective of the study was to identify how the authorities of the selected cities incorporate smart-city and 4T-capital topics into local policies to achieve decarbonization goals. The study was based on surveys of residents and municipal employees and on an analysis of local documents and environmental data of pollutions.

The relevance of the subject of research is determined by the need to develop and subsequently implement a mathematical model and the corresponding structural scheme of the convective heating surfaces of the TP-92 steam boiler. The purpose of this research work is to directly model the heat- -transfer system of the convective heating surfaces of this boiler, designed for effective use in real conditions. The basis of the methodological approach in the research work is a combination of methods of the system analysis of the key principles of constructing mathematical models of heat-transfer systems of modern steam boilers with an experimental study of the prospects for creating a mathematical model of a heat-transfer system of the convective heating surfaces of a TP-92 steam boiler. In the course of the study, the results were obtained and presented in the form of a mathematical model of a convective heat-transfer system. It allows for making effective mathematical calculations of the main operating modes of the TP-92 steam boiler and calculating the dependences of the temperature and thermal modes of its operation on the change of incoming parameters of the used heat carriers, changes in the heating surface area and the relative flow rate of the heat carriers over the time of their use. The results obtained in the study, including the conclusions formulated on their basis, are of significant practical importance for the designers of steam boilers. The results also are useful for maintenance personnel, whose immediate responsibilities include determining the real possibilities of improving the convective heat-transfer system, based on the known parameters of the temperature of the coolant at the entrance to the system and at the exit from it.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) systems are the present worldwide trends in utilizing solar energy for electricity generation. Solar energy produced from photovoltaic cells (PV) is considered the main common technology used due to its low capital cost; however, the relatively low efficiency of PV cells has spotlighted development and research on thermal engine applications using concentrated solar power. The efficiency of concentrated solar power is greater than that of PV and considering the solar potential for Sudan. Therefore, this study has been performed in an attempt to draw attention to the utilization of CSP in Sudan since the share of CSP is insignificant in comparison with PV, besides the suitability of CSP applications to Sudan’s hot climate and the high solar energy resource, the study presents a design model of 1 MW parabolic trough collectors (PTC) using the Rankine cycle with thermal energy storage (TES) in Sudan, by adopting reference values of the Gurgaon PTC power plant in India. The design of a 1 MW Concentrated Solar thermal power plant using parabolic trough collectors (PTC) and thermal energy storage is proposed. The simulation was performed for a site receiving an annual direct normal irradiance (DNI) of 1915 kWh/m2, near Khartoum. The results showed that the plant can produce between nearly 0.6 to 1 MWh during the year, and around 0.9 MWh when it encompasses thermal energy storage with an average thermal efficiency of 24%. These results of the PTC Power plant encourage further investigation and the development of CSP technologies for electricity generation in Sudan.

The potential of wind energy in Ukraine is examined in this article. Possibilities of its use are analyzed, an analytical assessment of the potential for its use is performed, and prospects for the use of energy resources for the development of the wind energy market is substantiated. Reasons are provided for the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy, which should be combined into the following components.
The natural resource potential of Ukraine for the development of wind energy is analyzed. It has been confirmed that the wind energy potential of different territories of Ukraine is characterized by average annual wind speeds at the level of 7.0–8.5 m/s (on the continent – at heights of about 100 m, in water areas – about 50 m), which allows using megawatt-class wind turbines with annual coefficients of capacity utilization at the level of 0.3–0.4, which is quite efficient. The specific energy potential of wind energy in Ukraine is established, according to which, the territories of the country were grouped. It has been specified that the best places for locating wind power plants are areas with strong and constant winds, which can be found on the coast of the seas and in mountainous areas.
The situation with the production of energy resources in Ukraine is analyzed based on wind sources and means before the war. The advantages of wind energy development based on the improvement of legislative framework and promoting production of equipment for the operation of wind power plants in Ukraine are proven. The reasons for the potential of the wind energy market are stated and the main consumers of wind energy in Ukraine are outlined. The development of wind energy is considered as a method for energy independence of the national economy of Ukraine.