Orhan Pamuk, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, is one of the most interesting and versatile of contemporary writers whose prose contributes to the understanding of the cultural background of the Orient and the Occident forged out of the juxtaposition of Islam and Christianity. As a might-have-been artist, who is currently an amateur photographer, the author, in an uncommon way, visualizes the continual wonder towards colors in the surrounding reality featuring in his fictional and non-fictional texts. The most important aspects of Pamuk’s works, however, are the journeys near and far and those within oneself, as well as the wanderings through cities, especially those of his native Istanbul. Aside from the returns home and to the motherland, Pamuk contrasts the inspiring voyages out with the voyages into the collective and individual past, in all their historical and political complexity. The present paper is an overview of Orhan Pamuk’s works from the perspective of colors and the aforesaid passages, which remind his readers of travelling as a basic topos of the course of human existence.

The paper examines Edward Said's critique of Thomas Edward Lawrence view on Arabs and Arabian culture and society. On the one hand some of Said's allegations seems poorly grounded and can be deny with some excerpts from Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom. On the other hand Said doesn't remark serious shortcomings of Lawrence's outlook of intercultural relations.

This year the new international guidelines of WIST (The World Federation for Interventional Stroke Treatment) on the physician’s training in the interventional acute stroke treatment were published. WIST multispecialty guidelines outline competency and quality standards for physicians and centers to perform safe and effective endovascular stroke treatment with mechanical thrombectomy. The role of quality control and quality assurance is highlighted. WIST establishes an individualized approach to acquiring clinical knowledge and procedural skills to meet the competency requirements for certification of interventionalists of various disciplines and stroke centers in endovascular treatment. WIST guidelines encourage acquisition of skills using innovative training methods such as structured supervised high-fidelity simulation and procedural performance on human perfused cadaveric models. In Poland in 2018 a pilot program on mechanical thrombectomy was established, however endovascular acute stroke treatment is still underused due to limited patients access to stroke centers and too small number of operators.

According to a widespread view, reviews in science are an instrument for the selection of ideas and people. The article analyzes the gatekeeping role of habilitation proceedings in Polish sociology, taking into account three main areas: (1) the power held in the field of sociology by individual and institutional selectors, (2) statistics on the results of selection, and (3) the fate of academics rejected in the gatekeeping process. It has been found that (1) in Polish sociology there are leading institutions that play the largest role in awarding habilitation degrees, but unlike in other disciplines, there is no phenomenon of domination in the field of review by specific scholars. (2) In the proceedings from 2013–2019, 12.5% of the proceedings ended with a refusal to grant the degree. In the set, no proceedings with a controversial outcome were found (e.g., conferring a degree with a preponderance of negative reviews or vice versa). In the examination of the review results, no trend of systematic gender discrimination was found. (3) 32% of those who were denied a degree left the scientific community, while 63% are still working at the same university as before the denial.

The subject of many controversies has been both the understanding of the limits of scientific knowledge and the indication of the “boundary” conditions of orders placed for it. In some cases, we are in favor of widening these boundaries in such a way that they can also include religious and quasi-religious beliefs, while in others we are in favor of narrowing them so that knowledge and faith can be clearly distinguished. In these considerations, I cite examples of positions on both issues that have in the past met with both relatively wide acceptance and serious reservations. It is worth taking a closer look at them, because it turns out that in science nothing is decided once and for all, and what seemed to belong to the past sometimes comes back with even greater force. I show this on two examples of contemporary positions on the issue of understanding the limits of scientific knowledge.

Group identity is both a fundamental issue for social psychology and one of the key explanations of intergroup hostility. In this paper, on the basis of a nationwide survey ( N = 1016), we compare the strength of Poles’ identification with nation, place of residence, occupation and gender, while presenting regional variations in these identifications in Poland. In doing so, we analyze the relationship between acceptance of minority groups and these identifications. We also test whether the three components of national identity: the strength of ties, the ingroup affect, and the cognitive centrality are indeed, as suggested in previous studies, beneficial aspects of identity that have a positive relationship with attitudes toward out-groups. The findings we obtained, among other things, allowed us to look at identification with groups as more complex than was assumed during previous research. Different contents of identification, as well as different components of national identity, are differently associated with acceptance of outgroups. Particular attention is paid to broad, umbrella identifications that have positive associations with acceptance of minorities.

Joris-Karl Huysmans, one of the most prominent French writers of the turn of the twentieth century, began his literary career as a naturalist, a promising disciple of Emile Zola. He departed from these ideals in his best-known novel A rebours (1884), considered the “bible of decadence”. Its protagonist, the eccentric misanthrope des Esseintes, withdraws from society to indulge in contemplation in solitude, studying rare prints and seeking beauty in the singular. He appreciates the scandalising works of writers such as Barbey d,Aurevilly and Baudelaire. These authors have been accused of promoting satanism. Durtal, the protagonist of the novel Lă-bas, goes even further, in which we find contemporary echoes of satanism, attempts to revive the ritual of the black mass or a fascination with cruelty. Ultimately, however – and this is best evidenced in subsequent works ( En route, La Cathédrale, L,Oblat) satanism brings disillusionment. A return to the Christian religion, which Huysmans nevertheless interprets in an original way, becomes inevitable.

Psychotherapy as an evidence-based clinical practice is a relatively young field. In defining psychotherapy, we will outline a continuum – from the use of psychological methods to improve well-being to psychotherapy as an evidence-based method of treating mental disorders. We discuss the types of outcome research, metaanalyses and recommendations for practice. Based on the example of research program TRAKT on psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy PTSD conducted in Poland, we will point out important questions of modern psychotherapy regarding the interpretation of research results, patient safety, personalization of treatment and ways of development and its place in the mental healthcare.

A project containing suggested amendments to the act of 2010 regulating the work of Commission for Research Integrity (CIR) has been forwarded to the Ministry of Education and Science In August 2022 – no decision has been communicated yet. In April 2022 CIR met with President of PAS prof. J. Duszyński. Current organizational and legislative issues have been discussed as well as means to strenghten the work of CRI. A meeting between CRI and Council for Scientific Excellence was held on 1 August 2022 which dealt with the need to modify the legislation relevant for promotion to full professorship. As pointed out earlier by CRI referees should have access to complete scientific output of a candidate (and not only to its fragments selected by a candidate). In addition, the evaluation should also include ethical aspects of a candidate scientific activity.

Neuroscience with neurology and psychiatry – the most frequently cited Polish scientists and institutions that employ them. 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 neuroscience with neurology and psychiatry. 138 such researchers were identified and then assigned to the research units in which they are employed. This type of analysis may allow

Professor Łucjan Krause, a long-term head of the Department of Physics of the University of Windsor died on July 4, 2022 in Windsor, Ontario in Canada. He was an outstanding Polish-Canadian physicist, who made important contributions to the atomic, molecular and optical physics. Born in Poznań on January 8, 1928, as a scout and Home Army soldier (nickname “Leonidas”), he took part in the Warsaw Uprising and after its failure was sent to a POW camp in Bergen-Belsen, in Germany. In 1951 after graduating from King’s College University of London, he emigrated to Canada, where he began his studies of physics at the University of Toronto. In 1955 he obtained in Toronto the PhD degree in physics under the supervision of Professor Harry Welsh in Raman spectroscopy of gases. Then for three years he worked as an associate professor of physics at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s. In 1958 he accepted an invitation from the University of Windsor and became a head of its Department of Physics. In Windsor, Krause created a vibrant scientific centre in which he developed research program in experimental studies of inelastic atomic collisions. The main attention was focused on the excitation energy transfer between colliding atoms, the quenching of fluorescence radiation by molecular gases and, more recently, on laser spectroscopy of metal excimers. In 1963 he initiated the cooperation with Professor Aleksander Jabłoński, head of the Chair of Experimental Physics of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Thanks to this cooperation numerous physicists, first from Toruń and later from other Polish scientific centers – as postdoctoral fellows – participated in experiments with the use of advanced laser equipment, not available in Poland at that time. In this way, Łucjan Krause contributed significantly to the development of physics in Poland. In order to pay tribute to his effort and devotion, in 1983 the Senate of Nicolaus Copernicus University awarded Professor Łucjan Krause a doctor honoris causa degree.

Populism is understood here according to the widely accepted definition by C. Mudde as a para-ideology containing two components, anti-elitism and the sovereignty of the people. It expresses itself in the form of social movements, specific forms of policy pursued, which sustains or inspires social conflicts, and at the same time is intended to please the people. Politics is led by a charismatic leader who gains legitimacy through elections, but the conditions of electoral competition are modified in various ways to ensure the success of the populist party and its leader. The article discusses the results of psychological research that deal with the psychological determinants of populist attitudes. They concern the emotionalmotivational and cognitive functioning of those who accept the para-ideology of populism and populist power. The genesis of populism is also discussed, which is related to some important defects in liberal democracies.

Prolacerta broomi is one of the most important of fossil reptiles. First considered as one of the earliest members of squamates, this basal archosauromorph has been used as a model for diapsid morphological evolution ever since its dis- covery, playing a pivotal role in hypotheses on the origin of diapsid reptiles. The holotype of Prolacerta broomi (UCMZ 2003.41R) is known from a mostly complete skull, but the original description is limited to the superficial features of the skull roof and palate. Since then, many other specimens of Prolacerta broomi have been recovered that potentially account for this limited access to anatomical information, but it remains unclear whether these aspects correspond well to the known material of the holotype. Here, the skull morphology of the holotype of Prolacerta broomi is revisited through the use of μCT scans. The identifications of some cranial elements have been corrected, such as the left prefrontal and lacrimal, and several new elements are revealed, including the epi- and ectopterygoids, prearticular, coronoid, and braincase bones. The orbitonasal region is described in detail and significantly shows a contribution of the lacrimal to the dorsal alveolar canal. Finally, the addition of the holotype as an independent OTU in recently published analyses indicate conflicts with the current knowledge on Prolacerta broomi phylogenetic affinity and taxonomy. First, it points to potential taxonomic inconsistency since the holotype does not form a monophyletic group with other Prolacerta broomi OTUs in any of the analyses and, second, it suggests a more basal position for the holotype than that recovered in some studies, more basal than rhynchosaurs and close to the origin of Crocopoda. Together, these findings indicate areas of future research interest in the study of early evolving archosauromorphs.

This paper presents a study conducted using the Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) to explore surface irrigation potential zones in the Didesa sub-basin of the Abay basin in Ethiopia. Physical land features, such as land use / land cover (LULC), slope, soil depth, drainage, and road proximity, along with climate factors like rainfall and evapotranspiration, and population density, were identified as criteria for the exploration. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a powerful structured decision-making technique commonly used for complex multi-criteria analysis problems where multiple criteria need to be considered. The importance of the criteria was prioritised and ranked in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Five qualitative-quantitative based surface irrigation potential zones were identified, namely highly suitable (48.40%), moderately suitable (27.26%), marginally suitable (13.27%), not suitable (4.91%), and irrigation constraints (6.16%). The consistency of the AHP technique in the exploration of surface irrigation potential zones is evaluated by the consistency index at CI = 0.011 and confirmed the correctness of weights assigned for the individual key factor in the AHP. The accuracy of the potential zones generated in the AHP was evaluated with ground-truth points and a supervised LULC classification map. Moreover, a good agreement was made among the classes with the kappa index ( KI = 0.93). Therefore, the application of the MCA for the exploration of surface irrigation potential zones was successful, and the results of the study will be useful to strengthen the irrigation in the explored potential zones.

The present study aims at evaluating the quality of shallow groundwater (SGW) and its suitability for irrigation purpose in the most urbanised part of Johannesburg city, South Africa. The SGW samples were collected in three consecutive years and analysed for 20 selected physicochemical parameters, and heavy metals. The results were compared with the South African water quality, and Food and Agricultural Organization irrigation water quality guidelines, and standard indices derived from laboratory outputs. The results of the study show that all physiochemical parameters and heavy metals were within the limits set by both guidelines for irrigation purposes, except for potassium (3.58 mg∙dm ^–3) and manganese levels (3.152 mg∙dm ^–3). The calculated irrigation parameter values of sodium adsorption ratio ( SAR), sodium percentage (Na%), residual sodium carbonate ( RSC), magnesium hazard ( MH), Kelly’s ratio ( KR) and permeability index ( PI) were within the permissible range of irrigation water quality standards. The findings of this study provide helpful information for decision-makers such as utilisation of the studied groundwater for irrigation uses.

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient for the growth and development of plants, but excessive use of nitrogen fertiliser in agriculture can result in environmental pollution. As a preferred nitrogen form, ammonium (NH ₄ ⁺) is absorbed from the soil by the plants through ammonium transporters (AMTs). Therefore, it is important to explore AMTs to improve the efficiency of plant N utilisation. Here, we performed a comprehensive genome-wide analysis to identify and characterise the AMT genes in barley ( HvAMTs), which is a very important cereal crop. A total of seven AMT genes were identified in barley and further divided into two subfamilies ( AMT1 and AMT2) based on phylogenetic analysis. All HvAMT genes were distributed on five chromosomes with only one tandem duplication. HvAMTs might play an important role in plant growth, development, and various stress responses, as indicated by cis- regulatory elements, miRNAs, and protein interaction analysis. Further, we analysed the expression pattern of HvAMTs in various developmental plant tissues, which indicated that AMT1 subfamily members might play a major role in the uptake of NH ₄ ⁺ from the soil through the roots in barley. Altogether, these findings might be helpful to improve the barley crop with improved nitrogen use efficiency, which is not only of great significance to the crop but also for land and water as it will reduce N fertiliser pollution in the surrounding ecosystem.

Changes of land use, population and climate cause spatial and temporal changes in renewable water resources. For better understanding of the changes and effective management of water resources, hydrological investigations in river catchments are carried out around the world. A special investigation involves a study of hydrological processes in small site-specific catchments. The aim of the study is to analyse three characteristic river flows of a small lowland river on the basis of field surveys over two multiannual periods and to evaluate the applicability of indirect methods for determining characteristic flows in the catchment. Hydrological studies in the small agricultural catchment of the Mławka River, located in the Mławka Hills mesoregion, a part of the North Mazovian Lowland macro-region, have continued since 1966. The recorded data were used to determine daily flows and selected characteristic flows for multiannual periods of 1966–1990 and 1991–2020. To determine characteristic flows with indirect methods, three regional formulae and isorea methods were used. The study showed a decrease in renewable water resources over the period. In the multiannual periods, the average flow at the gauge station of Mławka River decreased by 15.6%. The outflow coefficient decreased from 0.303 to 0.265. The minimum annual flows also decreased by 29.1% and annual maximum flows showed an average increase by 19.7%. The use of indirect methods to determine the mean flow yielded results that converged with those from the second multiannual period.

The Lamongan Regency is an area in East Java, Indonesia, which often experiences drought, especially in the south. The Corong River basin is located in the southern part of Lamongan, which supplies the irrigation area of the Gondang Reservoir. Drought monitoring in the Corong River basin is very important to ensure the sustainability of the agricultural regions. This study aims to analyse the causal relationship between meteorological and agricultural drought indices represented by standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index ( SPEI) and standard normalisation difference vegetation index ( NDVI), using time series regression. The correlation between NDVI and SPEI lag 4 has the largest correlation test results between NDVI and SPEI lag, which is 0.41. This suggests that the previous four months of meteorological drought impacted the current agricultural drought. A time series regression model strengthens the results, which show a causal relationship between NDVI and SPEI lag. According to the NDVI–SPEI-1 lag 4 time series model, NDVI was influenced by NDVI in the previous 12 periods, and SPEI-1 in the last four periods had a determinant coefficient value of 0.4. This shows that the causal model between SPEI-1 and NDVI shows a fairly strong relationship for drought management in agricultural areas (irrigated areas) and is considered a reliable and effective tool in determining the severity and duration of drought in the study area.

Human activities on land have grown significantly changing the entire landscape, while most of the changes have occurred in the tropics. The change has become a serious environmental concern at the local, regional and global scales. The intensity, speed, and degree of land use / land cover (LULC) changes are nowadays quicker compared to the past because of the development of society. Moreover, the rapid increase in population resulted in disturbing a large number of landscapes on the Earth. The main objective of this study was to detect historical (1990– 2020) and predicted (2020–2050) LULC changes in the Welmel River Watershed, which is located in the Genale-Dawa Basin, South Eastern Ethiopia. The dataset of 1990, 2005, and 2020 was generated from Landsat 5, Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 respectively to determine the historical LULC map. The result of this study revealed that agriculture/ settlement increased by 6.85 km ²∙y ^–1, while forestland declined by 9.16 km ²∙y ^–1 over the last 31 years between 1990 and 2020. In the coming 31 years (by 2050), if the existing trend of the LULC change continues, agriculture/settlement land is expected to increase from 290.64 km ² in 2020 to 492.51 km ² in 2050 at the rate of 6.73 km ²∙y ^–1, while forestland is expected to shrink from 690.48 km2 in 2020 to 427.01 km ² in 2050 by a rate of 8.78 km ²∙y ^–1.

Beyşehir Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the Mediterranean region of Turkey that is used for drinking and irrigation purposes. The aim of this paper is to examine the potential for data-driven methods to predict long-term lake levels. The surface water level variability was forecast using conventional machine learning models, including autoregressive moving average (ARMA), autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), and seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA). Based on the monthly water levels of Beyşehir Lake from 1992 to 2016, future water levels were predicted up to 24 months in advance. Water level predictions were obtained using conventional time series stochastic models, including autoregressive moving average, autoregressive integrated moving average, and seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average. Using historical records from the same period, prediction models for precipitation and evaporation were also developed. In order to assess the model’s accuracy, statistical performance metrics were applied. The results indicated that the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model outperformed all other models for lake level, precipitation, and evaporation prediction. The obtained results suggested the importance of incorporating the seasonality component for climate predictions in the region. The findings of this study demonstrated that simple stochastic models are effective in predicting the temporal evolution of hydrometeorological variables and fluctuations in lake water levels.

The objective of this study is to map through multisource data, the change in land use structure and quantify its evolution around the semi-arid watershed of Wadi Sarno of Sidi Bel Abbès between 2000 and 2021. To this end, satellite images of 2000 and 2021 have been exploited by remote sensing and GIS, as well as field surveys for verification and validation of the results obtained. The methodology is based on supervised classification by maximum likelihood from the processing of satellite images. The analysis of the dynamics of land use shows that the areas of natural formations (dense forest and bare land) have decreased from 17,560 ha to 15,516 ha, that is to say, a regression of 8.04%, while the anthropised formations (Agriculture, open forest and rangeland, built-up areas, water bodies) have experienced an increase in their surface area, they have gone from 7901 ha to 9945 ha, that is to say, 10.4% of the total surface area of the basin. In the light of these results, it is possible to define priority areas for restoring degraded zones and enhancing natural formations. by giving priority to perennial crops to fix the soil in place and benefit from additional income for the region's farmers. By planting hardy species such as olives, figs, almonds, carob trees and so on. These species have proven their effectiveness and adaptation to local soil and climate conditions.

This research presents the characteristics and inferred evolution of post-bog soils developed in the Last Glacial Maximum area of northwestern Poland near the southern Baltic coast. The study involved a total of five sites near existing lakes in NW Poland. In total, 21 soil pits were described and sampled and 17 piezometers were installed. In soil samples chemical and physical properties were determined. During the hydrological year the water level was checked and chemical properties of water were determined, the floristic composition at each location was also carried out. Mineralisation of post-bog soils initiated by dehydration leads to the decomposition of organic surface layers and an increase in CaCO3 content as well as mineral non-lime components at the expense of organic matter. A sequence of five soil types occurs in this landscape: Sapric Histosols (Limnic), Drainic Histosols (Calcaric, Limnic), Histic Gleysols (Murshic), Umbric Gleysols (Hyperhumic), Gleyic Phaeozems (Hyperhumic) that represent individual stages of soil genesis. Differences between the chemical properties of soils are apparent between organic vs organic-mineral and mineral layers. Man-induced drainage of post-bog soils changes their physical parameters. Bulk density increase and water retention decrease. The fluctuation of groundwater determines the moisture content of post-bog soils and affects the species composition of vegetation. Chemistry of groundwater is shaped mainly by the construction of catchment and the nature of its use, however, it is modified as a result of the inflow of macronutrients released during organic matter mineralisation processes and leaching of exchangeable forms from the sorption complex.

Water erosion is a critical issue for Morocco, especially in its semi-arid regions, where climatic and edaphic conditions only allow erratic soil formation and vegetation growth. Therefore, water erosion endangers human activity both directly (loss of arable land, landslides, mudflows) and indirectly (siltation of dams, river pollution). This study is part of the Kingdom’s effort to assess the risk of water erosion in its territory. It is dedicated to the Bin El-Ouidane dam water catchment, one of the biggest water storage facilities in the country, located in the High Atlas Mountains. The poorly developed soils are very sensitive to erosion in this mountainous area that combines steep slopes and sparse vegetation cover. The calculation of soil losses is carried out with the RUSLE model and corrected by estimating areas of deposition based on the unit stream power theory. This method produces a mean erosion rate of around 6.3 t·ha ^-1·y ^-1, or an overall annual loss of 4.1 mln t, consistently with the siltation rate of the dam. Primary risk areas (erosion rates > 40 t·ha ^-1·y ^-1) account for 54% of the total losses, while they cover only 7% of the catchment. This distribution of the soil losses also shows that the erosion risk is mainly correlated to slope, directing the means of control toward mechanical interventions.