The notion of the centre is characterised by semantic pluralism, as its meaning is dependent on the scale from which we view a given subject, even in the discipline of architecture and urban planning. The author refers to studies on defining city centres and downtown areas from the period of the second half of the 20th century, confronting them with contemporary theories (space of flows) in all aspects of the urban environment.

Local service centre, defined as multi-functional public space providing access to everyday services, promoting social integration and building local identity, is an essential hub in the urban service sector. From the public policy perspective appropriate location and furnishing of local service centres is a basic condition for shaping territorial cohesion. This paper synthesises the to-date knowledge on mechanisms determining the development of service sector in cities, including new phenomena such as decentralisation of urban functions, urban shrinkage, remote services provision or commercialisation of lifestyle. Critical literature review enables the confrontation of various research perspectives and leads to distinguishing key factors affecting the development of urban local service centres in the first half of 21st century and defining the current challenges for public policy.

The urban form creates the city structure, whose spatial values not only shape the functionality of the city, but also its identity, whose the most important determinant is the urban tissue. The subject of the study is the analysis of selected historical areas of Cracow in the scope of composition and readability of their urban structure. The analysis focuses on the identification of the most important aspects of spatial renewal processes of these spaces. These processes aimed at strengthening their potential as local centres, that can become a factor stimulating the development of the individual urban units. The increase in the attractiveness and quality of public spaces will positively affect the degree of their perception by the inhabitants and the social relations taking place in them. This in turn, influences the degree of the social involvement in development processes and the creation of more or less spontaneous, bottom-up activities.

The Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences is the only Polish scientific research unit that is entirely devoted to using space technologies and satellite techniques to study the Earth, the area of space around it, and other celestial bodies in the Solar System.

Many analysis of growth poles do not refer directly to development and dynamics of propulsive activities, but rather to their effects. In this paper the author concluded that essential role may be played by fast-growing and knowledge-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) while their intra-regional diversity of activity may be a reasonable proxy measure of a role played by specific town as a growth centre. Therefore the article has two main goals: methodical – determining the usefulness of the activity of fast-growing and (potentially) innovative small and medium enterprises as a designatum for the growth pole and cognitive – to capture the spatial differences in the distribution of this kind of SMEs in Podkarpackie region. The study showed strong diversification of the number of fast-growing and (potentially) innovative SMEs on the local level. All techniques of determining the level of economic development and it’s dynamics taken into consideration in the analysis testify to strong and rising position of Rzeszów as a regional growth pole. It indicates growing role of metropolisation processes in Poland even in case of peripheral, weakly urbanised region with a relatively small regional centre compared to the biggest Polish cities.

The recast of the European Insolvency Regulation, which has been applicable from 26 June 2017, implements a philosophy of Euro universalism, according to which in solvency proceedings opened in a Member State where the debtor has its centre of main in terests (COMI) should have a universal scope and encompass all the debtor’s assets situated throughout the EU.

The wording of the Recast Regulation is in tended to comply with the ECJ case law concerning COMI, such as Interedil, Eurofood, Bank Handlowy or Mediasucre judgments. Nevertheless, it is now questioned whether the Recast Regulation strengthens or rather weakens the COMI/registered office rebuttable presumption and opens the gate for in solvency forum shopping.

As far as international company law is concerned, the issue of transfer of seat as well as forum shopping has been widely discussed. So far the ECJ has issued a series of judgments in which it has explained the European freedom of establishment and the cross-border activities of companies in the internal market.

Similarly, the US Supreme Court has issued several significant decisions, such as CTP Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America, Edgar v. MITE Corp., and International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington, in which the limits of acceptable forum shopping are better delin eated.

Based on the aforementioned, it may be concluded that European harmonization measures facilitating cross-border mobility should additionally assist in achieving predictability and efficiency, as well as the economic viability and security of the operations under consideration.

This contribution analyses and expounds on the lessons that can be learned from both the ECJ case law as well as US Supreme Court’s decisions on in ternational company law, in cluding an examin ation of their effect on in solvency forum shoppin g. There is no doubt that, if successful, harmonized legislation on these matters would be a great asset for the internal market.

A novel method for thermal diffusivity evolution of thin-film materials with pulsed Gaussian beam and infrared video is reported. Compared with common pulse methods performed in specialized labs, the proposed method implements a rapid on-line measurement without producing the off-centre detection error. Through mathematical deduction of the original heat conduction model, it is discovered that the area s, which is encircled by the maximum temperature curve rTMAX(θ), increases linearly over elapsed time. The thermal diffusivity is acquired from the growth rate of the area s. In this study, the off-centre detection error is avoided by performing the distance regularized level set evolution formulation. The area s was extracted from the binary images of temperature variation rate, without inducing errors from determination of the heat source centre. Thermal diffusivities of three materials, 304 stainless steel, titanium, and zirconium have been measured with the established on-line detection system, and the measurement errors are: −2.26%, −1.07%, and 1.61% respectively.

Within this article a large scope of issues associated with development conditions and specifics of shaping the new image of Gdańsk waterfront was presented. The special attention was paid to its part situated within its central zone, located within the city centre. This area was playing a key role in development of the city, as within its boundaries many activities associated with shipbuilding and port industry were located. One has to mention that the Granary Island – a place located in the heart of the waterfront area – was an area of special interest for the port and shipbuilding activities, which relates also to the embankments of both Old and New Motława rivers. But the technological changes in the maritime transportation as well as wart-time destruction of the city decided about the major changes in structure of this area and shifting the port and shipbuilding operations to other sites located to the north from the city centre. Therefore, starting from the year 1945, one could observe the on-going discussion regarding the future of this area, although only in 1990-ties it was possible to actually start implementation of these ideas. At the same time – along with appearance of the demand for the types of apartments, offi ce and commercial spaces that are located on the waterfront – the urban space of Gdańsk waterfront has become interesting for both municipal authorities and developers. In result, a large amount of projects have already been implemented or planned, which contributes towards creation of the new, waterfront urban district of Gdańsk. Within its structure one can distinguish a number of particular sites, including ones still awaiting for their development chances. In the text of this article there were presented the most important parts of these plans, as well as future development directions of urban waterfront structures.

A review of the Miller, Laue and direction indices characterization was made. Excluding or allowing non-coprime indices, depending on whether the lattice is primitive or centred, were compared. The solution of the “spacing counting problem for centred lattices was proposed. It was shown that for centred lattices: (1) Laue indices nh nk nl can represent not only n-th order diffraction on (hkl) planes, but also the first order diffraction from a family of planes (nh nk nl); (2) “integral reflection conditions” are necessary, but not sufficient for the existence of given Miller indices. “Integral reflection conditions” for Laue indices hkl and other “conditions for Miller indices” (hkl) were distinguished. It was shown that in the case of centred lattices, the inference based on the value of n obtained from the equation of lattice planes, may not be correct. The homogeneity of the centred reciprocal lattices has been clarified. “Simple cubic cell with a base” as a choice of unit cell proposed by “general rule” was contrasted with: “unit cell, if not centred, must be the smallest one”. “Integral reflection conditions” for Laue indices and other, new “conditions for Miller indices”, resulting from transformation of centred lattices to unconventional primitive ones have been proposed. Examples of the not correct use of indices in the morphology and diffraction pattern descriptions were shown.

The internal forces in stiffeningwalls are usually determining by numerical methods. Extreme values of forces and displacements can be achieved without significant problems. The numerical model is always labour-intensive; therefore, it is not used for single-family or multi-family buildings with a simple wall layout. To calculate efficiently internal forces in such walls uses an analytical model. Eurocode 6 (prEN 1996-1-1: 2019) does not provide specific guidelines for determining geometrical characteristics and procedures for calculating the values of internal forces in the stiffening walls. The use of numerical methods and other reliable methods was allowed. The paper presents the adaptation of the total stiffness method to determine internal forces in a building with a simple wall system. The method was based on dividing the masonry wall with openings into pillars, lintels, bottom sprandels and flanged walls. The analytical results were compared with linear-elastic FEM calculations. It has been demonstrated that flexural stiffness, shear stiffness and localization of rotation centre (RC) had a crucial impact on masonry structure.

Commercial functions are very important to the process of urban revitalization. Various commercial forms of trade, such as markets, marketplaces, cloth halls have enriched the public spaces of cities over the centuries. Over the last 25 years of the free market in Poland, we have observed deformations within the urban structure caused by new types of commercial functions. The attractive functions of urban malls and shopping centers, which are usually placed inside, cause the degradation he streets located outside. Shopping centers, spread within the city and isolated by parking areas from pedestrian networks, contribute to the growth of inner peripheries. The fluctuations of the global economy should lead us however, to the delimitation of commercial functions, especially the largest ones. The proper relations between these commercial areas and the beautiful landscape of the city can be used as an element of building the city's image. Ventures within the historical city centers require the development of new instruments which would allow us to protect existing values.

This paper deals with the legal aspects of saving life at sea by the Maritime Search and Rescue Service (SAR Service). Depending on the situation, it is possible to provide assistance to a ship in distress at sea and to people on board, either from the sea by another ship, or from the land side, i.e. from the coast by specially prepared services. The effective functioning of the SAR organizational system determines the effectiveness of the SAR action in terms of the number of people saved from danger at sea. In order to provide assistance, SAR services around the world performs distress monitoring, communication, coordination, as well as search and rescue tasks, including the pro-vision of medical advice, initial medical assistance or medical evacuation, through the use of public and private resources, including associated aircraft. The tasks of the SAR services include organizing disembarkation of rescued people.

Louis Kahn, jeden z najwybitniejszych architektów XX w., uznawany jest za ojca współczesnych mikrobiologicznych kompleksów naukowych. Jego realizacje z końca lat 50. i 60. ubiegłego wieku stały się wzorcem dla późniejszych projektów laboratoriów mikrobiologicznych. Kahn w swoich realizacjach wprowadził dwie zasady: zasadę podzielenia funkcji na powierzchnie obsługujące i obsługiwane oraz zastosowanie otwartego planu w laboratoriach. Równocześnie wydzielił poziomy techniczne w celu łatwiejszego dostępu do instalacji technicznych. Jego obiekty są pełne symboliki, a zastosowanie surowych materiałów nawiązaniem do dialogu pomiędzy masą budynku i dynamiczną grą światła.

Most researchers have explored noise reduction effects based on the transfer matrix method and the boundary element method. However, maximum noise reduction of a plenum within a constrained space, which frequently occurs in engineering problems, has been neglected. Therefore, the optimum design of multi-chamber plenums becomes essential. In this paper, two kinds of multi-chamber plenums (Case I: a two-chamber plenum that is partitioned with a centre-opening baffle; Case II: a three-chamber plenum that is partitioned with two centre-opening baffles) within a fixed space are assessed. In order to speed up the assessment of optimal plenums hybridized with multiple partitioned baffles, a simplified objective function (OBJ) is established by linking the boundary element model (BEM, developed using SYSNOISE) with a polynomial neural network fit with a series of real data – input design data (baffle dimensions) and output data approximated by BEM data in advance. To assess optimal plenums, a genetic algorithm (GA) is applied. The results reveal that the maximum value of the transmission loss (TL) can be improved at the desired frequencies. Consequently, the algorithm proposed in this study can provide an efficient way to develop optimal multi-chamber plenums for industry.

Rural development policy of Agricultural Property Stock (APS) of the State Treasury in Poland is run by the National Support Centre for Agriculture (until 31.08.2017 Agricultural Property Agency). In the article, on the example of the Braniewo municipality, the size and spatial distribution of land transferred from the Agricultural Property Stock (APS) of the State Treasury to the municipality was analysed. One of the most important goals associated with this was activities related to social aspects, often part of the revitalization and renewal of the rural areas. After Poland's accession to the Euro-pean Union, it was possible to obtain subsidies that allowed the rural population to apply for financing projects, such as: road construction, creating school playgrounds or socio-cultural facilities. Authors also analysed examples of good practic-es in this area in the municipality of Braniewo, as a recommendation for other municipalities. Attempts have also been made to indicate the role of the National Support Centre for Agriculture in the transformation of the Polish countryside, with particular emphasis on the areas of former State Agricultural Farms.

During the 1920s and 1930s Gdynia transformed from a small fishing village into a dynamically developing city through the construction in its vicinity of the largest seaport of interwar Poland. The city’s first expansion plan (1926, Adam Kuncewicz, Roman Feliński), designed for approximately 100 000 inhabitants, had to be revised already within a few years because development of the port has proved to be faster and the terrain requirements of the port substantially greater than originally predicted. In effect grounds originally planned for general city functions were yielded to the rapidly developing port. It was not until 2003 when the port boundaries shifted significantly as a result of restrictions and changes in the nature of port activity. These changes freed around 53 ha of post-harbour sites for new development, attractively located in the immediate vicinity of the existing city centre and waterfront. In 2015 the port boundaries shifted again adding 3 ha more of post-harbour sites. The changes also spurred investment in the north of downtown Gdynia – in accordance with the intentions of first city planners. Ideas how to make good use of post-harbour areas have been invented and evolved since 1990s. The concept which is currently under development was prepared in 2008 by the City Planning Offi ce of Gdynia. Since 2010 analyses and studies of future development have been conducted using 3D model. The concept is continuously updated and new details are added based on projects obtained through architectural competitions. Since 2015 development areas of the northern part of the city center were rebranded as Gdynia Sea City. In accordance with this concept Gdynia Sea City will be the modern city centre with areas designed for leisure, relaxation and business and will be inhabited by more than 10 thousand people. The area’s new grid is a continuation of the urban grid of historical downtown Gdynia and draws upon unrealized city plans of the interwar period. The scale of new buildings in the area is reminiscent of the historical buildings in the area. Groups of higher buildings are allowed outside of a protected area of the historic center, in areas selected through view and cityscape analysis. The residential and commercial complex Sea Towers together with two other newly constructed tall buildings is currently the dominant in this area. Several new development complexes are under construction. Planning concepts assume public availability of quays around the port basins and maintaining spacious openings towards the sea. Construction of marinas is expected using part of the docks and the ability to expand and reduce existing wharves, movement of pedestrians and cyclists between Fishermen Pier and South Pier will be facilitated through the construction of a bridge or a ferry connection. The planned enlargement into the post-harbour areas will double the current potential of Gdynia downtown, and enlarge the scope of representative areas and change the panorama from the historic city center and from the sea. Attractive downtown sites can provide an answer to the issue of uncontrolled urban spill into peripheral areas of adjacent municipalities.

This article discusses the professional careers of foreign scholars in Krakow, one of the leading academic centres in Poland and a regional ‘silicon valley’ (toutes proportions gardées). Central and Eastern Europe is understudied as an immigration region for highly skilled migrants (HSMs). To bridge this gap, we concentrate on three interrelated topics: (a) the perception of Polish science and its infrastruc-ture; (b) careers of international staff employed in Polish academia; and (c) their perception of their achievements in Poland. Foreign scholars come to Poland for various reasons. Two of the most important are the cultural proximity between Poland and their country of origin, and research interests focused directly in Poland. Our findings show that Poland attracts first and foremost scholars with average scientific achievements. We discuss major problems they encounter (e.g., shortage of funds, uncomfortable office space, restricted access to books and papers) and their expectations of life in a semi-periphery country. The paper is mainly based on in-depth interviews with 23 foreign scholars working full time at four universities in Krakow and, as a secondary source, on the analysis of websites of these universities.

950,000 pages of data from 47 years of uninterrupted activity of the PAS Space Research Centre have been deposited in the openSPACE repository of high-value open Earth and space observation data. The data can be freely downloaded, to be used for any purpose

Appropriate product categorization in distribution centres is important for business success because of the possibility of intuitive product finding by the picker and increased product movement. Both of these factors result in the operational efficiency of the distribution centre. The goal of this paper is to explore a model of shelf space dimensioning of storage location on a rack with vertical and horizontal product categorization in a distribution centre, where the aim is to increase total product movement/profit from all shelves of the rack. This is controlled by a packer who must complete orders by getting the goods from shelves and picking them to the container. In this problem, we develop two heuristics and compare the archived results to the CPLEX solver. The average profit ratios of both heuristics are high and approximately equal to 99%. In 10 cases, optimal solutions have been found by heuristics.

Distribution centres are the important elements of modern supply chains. A distribution centre stores and ships products. In this paper, we investigate the model of the dimensioning of shelf space on the rack with vertical and horizontal product categorisation in a distribution centre, where the objective is to maximise the total product movement/profit from all shelves of the rack which is being managed by a packer who needs to complete orders selecting the products from the shelves and picking them to the container. We apply two newly developed heuristics to this problem and compare the results to the optimal solution found by the CPLEX solver. There are 8 steering parameters that allow for reducing the search space implemented in heuristics. Among them are parameters that decrease the number of products on the shelves, the category with a range for assigning most space for the most profitable products within the category; two versions of steering parameters for the number of generated product allocations, the step parameters for the intensity of solution diversification, and the movement/profit below which the solutions are not generated. The computational results are presented and indicate that higher-quality solutions can be obtained using the new heuristics. In 10 from 15 tests, both heuristics can find optimal solutions without exploring the whole solution space. For the rest test sets, the solutions received by heuristics are not less than 92.58%.

I assumed so far that the notion of historical thinking was a worthy and handy “sponsor” of meta‑historical enquiry. Therefore, I left both thinking and, in particular, historical thinking without even a quasi‑definition. In this paper I make an attempt to operationalize the notion of historical thinking using historical semiotics (semiotics of culture), a domain of humanities developed by the founding fathers of the Tartu–Moscow Semiotic School, Yuri Lotman and Boris Uspenskij. The association of cognition and communication not only enriches the study of language but also culture and historiography. Bearing in mind the meta‑historical contexts I found interesting, I significantly reorganized the lecture contents found in Uspenskiy’s Ego Loquens. This interpretation took the form of annotated diagrams, which represent and interpret key categories of Uspenskiy’s philosophy resultant from the semiotic concept of language and culture. Underlying it, there is the act of communication as both the act of anthropogenesis and the genesis of the subject of cognition. We point out the qualities of historical thinking which already flow from the qualities of thinking tout court. Along the way we introduce the problem of the status of the so‑called objective and virtual reality, typical of the philosophical aspects of historical semiotics and crucial for potential meta‑historical analyses.

The most important challenges in the construction field is to do the experimentation of the designing at real time. It leads to the wastage of the materials and time consuming process. In this paper, an artificial neural network based model for the verification of sigma section characteristics like shear centre and deflection are designed and verified. The physical properties like weight, depth, flange, lip, outer web, thickness, and area to bring shear centre are used in the model. Similarly, weight, purlin centres with allowable loading of different values used in the model for deflection verification. The overall average error rate as 1.278 percent to the shear centre and 2.967 percent to the deflection are achieved by the model successfully. The proposed model will act as supportive tool to the steel roof constructors, engineers, and designers who are involved in construction as well as in the section fabricators industry.

The aim of the article is to present the activities of foreign scientific centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences on the examples of three out of six operating centers: the center in Vienna, Paris and the Polish Science Contact Agency PolSCA PAN in Brussels. The authors of the article combine their own experiences of the former directors of the centers: in Vienna, Paris and Brussels to reflect critically on the place and role of these centers in the scientific-research area. They point to centers’ enormous and diverse potential for disseminating and promoting the achievements of scientists, not fully recognized and used by the scientific community. Taking into account the specifics of each institution, the authors describe the ways of optimal use of their cultural and social capital, and identify common structural problems they encountered during their tenure. The article consists of the following elements: an introduction, an extensive authorial analysis of each station's activities, prepared in the form of a case study and a summary with conclusions.

The increasing demand for office space in Moscow, as well as the economic and political conditions in the global context, have contributed to the construction of a multifunctional complex of the Moscow International Business Centre in the Russian capital. The primarily office building complex is an example of activities consisting in the degleration of offices outside the city centre. It is also an attempt to create a prestigious place (including attractive architecture), an element of the city identity indicating a high development level of the state, application of new solutions in the fields of urban planning and architecture (including technique and modern technologies). Key words: Moscow International Business Centre, multifunctional office complex, office building, urban operation, post-industrial reconstruction, Moscow