This paper constitutes out of necessity only a partial/fragmentary analysis of the infuence of Christianity on the culture of the United Sates. There is no doubt that the wish to create a truly Christian society which could be a “new Israel” was a strong motive which became the underlying cause for the founding of the USA. The “founding myth” has been refected not only in the proclaimed constitution with a pioneering principle of separating the state from the religion but also present in everyday life of a rapidly developing nation, continually fuelled by Protestant leaders. The power of the myth was sustained and spontaneously stimulated by the successive waves of European immigrants systematically Americanized by the local population. the inseparable element of American lifestyle is a specifc presence of Christianity in the public sphere in the form of civil religion. After the crisis associated with the expansion of secularism (intellectuals’ heresy after the Second World War) there was a great revival of Christianity in the eighties of the previous century. It was infuenced by a fervent religious rhetoric of President R. Reagan and by the attack of Protestant conservatives soon allied with conservatism of Catholic writers/publicists. Despite the growing attitudes of religious indifference, political and social life of contemporary America is permeated with religious elements, declaration of faith in God being perceived positively. A marked religious revival although encompassing only some part of the society makes America, in contrast to Europe, a country of a clearly Christian character.
This article shows incidents associated with the use of gas as an energy carrier. It presents selected incidents which have occurred in Poland and around the world in recent decades. Based on this, consequences of gas and air mixture explosions were analysed as well. The article presents the main causes of gas incidents which have taken place, as per instances which are similar worldwide. Incidents associated with the use of gas are not frequent, but at the same time very tragic as they often lead to illness or even death. In Poland, in the last twenty years, construction area disasters caused by gas explosions account for only 5% of all which have occurred, but the number of fatalities resulting from these cases is approximately 14%. The number of individuals injured reached 39% of all construction disaster victims. Considering all these facts, it is necessary to undertake wide preventive measures in order to increase safety in the use of gaseous fuels.
The Indian Cave Sandstone (Upper Pennsylvanian, Gzhelian) from the area of Peru, Nebraska, USA, has yielded
numerous isolated chondrichthyan remains and among them teeth and dermal denticles of the Symmoriiformes
Zangerl, 1981. Two tooth-based taxa were identified: a falcatid Denaea saltsmani Ginter and Hansen, 2010,
and a new species of Stethacanthus Newberry, 1889, S. concavus sp. nov. In addition, there occur a few long,
monocuspid tooth-like denticles, similar to those observed in Cobelodus Zangerl, 1973, probably representing
the head cover or the spine-brush complex. A review of the available information on the fossil record of
Symmoriiformes has revealed that the group existed from the Late Devonian (Famennian) till the end of the
Middle Permian (Capitanian).
Trace metal composition of snowpack, snow-melt filter residues and top-soils were determined along transects through industrial towns in the Usa River Basin: Inta, Usinsk and Vorkuta. Elevated concentrations of deposition elements and pH in snow and soils associated with alkaline coal ash within 25-40 km of Vorkuta and Inta were found. Atmospheric deposition in the vicinity of Vorkuta and Inta, added significantly to the soil contaminant loading as a result of ash fallout. The element concentrations in soils within 20-30 km of Vorkuta do not reflect current deposition rates, but instead, reflect an historical pollution legacy, when coal mining activity peaked in the 1960s. There is little evidence of anthropogenic metal deposition around the gas and oil town of Usinsk.
The Cleveland Shale fauna represents a unique view of the time after a major Devonian extinction event
(Frasnian–Famenian) with the recovery of arthrodires (Placodermi) best represented by this most specious
North American fauna. This time was followed by an additional event (Hangenberg Biocrisis) leading to the
extinction of arthrodires (and all other placoderms). An understanding of the diversity and interrelationships of
North American arthrodires can aid our understanding of this critical time in vertebrate evolution. A new aspinothoracid
arthrodire Hlavinichthys jacksoni gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Late Devonian of northern
Ohio, U.S.A., which adds to our knowledge of this group. It provides a point of comparison to other members
of the fauna whose interrelationships are poorly known. A phylogenetic analysis supports an assignment of
Hlavinichthys jacksoni gen. et sp. nov. among the aspinothoracid arthrodires. This work has drawn attention to
the continued need for descriptive and phylogenetic analyses of this unique fauna. Decades old species descriptions
need revision along with preparation and description of new taxa. The work on Hlavinichthys jacksoni
gen. et sp. nov. here is one step in that process.
Six enigmatic fossils from the Famennian (Devonian) Cleveland Shale in Ohio, U.S.A., are interpreted here as
arthrodiran (Placodermi) egg cases. Recognition as egg cases is confirmed based on the observation of layered
collagen fibers. The presence of a tuberculated bone fragment preserved within one case confirms a vertebrate
source. The nature of the tubercles and the unique morphology of the egg cases supports the interpretation of
an arthrodiran source. Reports of Devonian egg cases are limited to either assumed chondrichthyan producers
or a putative ‘egg sac’ with a morphology atypical for any vertebrate. The Cleveland Shale egg cases thus
represent the first record for a non-chondrichthyan producer. Among placoderms, behaviors of a pelagic life
style with obligate nesting sites, reef fishes with live birth, and estuarine and fluvial nurseries, along with eggcase
oviparity testifies to the diversity of reproductive strategies. As with modern fishes these strategies may
be ecologically driven and the derived and variable reproductive biology of extant chondrichthyans is actually
a primitive condition among gnathostomes. One consequence of the diversity of reproductive strategies (dependent
on the topology of relationships) is the independent origin of internal fertilization within placoderms,
possibly suggesting external fertilization as the primitive gnathostome reproductive mode.
This article takes a look at the development women’s press in the first half of the 19th century. A comparison of the press market in the Romantic Age in France, Poland and the United States shows that usually women were eager to take up journalism as a sideline to their literary careers. The article discusses the journalistic work of three women writers — Delphine de Girardin, Wanda Malecka and Margaret Fuller. While each of them was inspired by Romantic and Preromantic writers, their journalism was for the most part a continuation of the Enlightenment models of journalism.