The level of sales of a given good depends largely on the distribution network. An analysis of the distribution network allows companies to optimize business activity, which improves the efficiency and profitability of a company’s sales with an immediate effect on profit growth. The so-called spatial analysis is highly useful in this regard. The paper presents an analysis of the network of authorized dealers of the Polish Mining Group for the Opolskie Province. The analysis was done using GIS (SIP) tools. The purpose of the analysis was to present tools that could be used to verify an existing distribution network, to optimize it, or to create a new sales outlet. The prresented tools belong to GIS operations used to process data stored in Spatial Information System resources. These are so-called geoprocessing tools. The article contains several spatial analyses, which results in choosing the optimum location of the distribution point in terms of the defined criteria. The used tools include a spatial intersection and sum. Geocoding and the so-called cartodiagram were also used. The presented analysis can be performed for both the network of authorized retailers within a region, a city or an entire country. The presented tools provide the opportunity to specify the target consumers, areas where they are located and areas of potential consumer concentration. This allows the points of sale in areas with a high probability of finding new customers to be located, which enables the optimal location to be chosen, for example, in terms of access to roads, rail transport, locations of the right area and neighborhood. Spatial analysis tools will also enable the coal company to verify its already existing distribution network.

Small towns are an important element of settlement network. They change their status depending on, among others, the development of industry, and changes in the transportation system. Some of them lost civic rights, then regained them, and sometimes were incorporated into the neighboring agglomerations. Some small towns have merged together to create new structures in the settlement network. This article investigates this phenomenon on the example of south-west of Poland. It was also found that in several cases, a small town subsequently separated from the urban area and created a separate urban unit of its own.

Podejście agregacyjne to obecnie dominujący sposób prowadzenia analiz w badaniach nad działaniami zbiorowymi i ruchami społecznymi. W obrębie metod agregacyjnych działania analizuje się jako sumę wartości odrębnych elementów (zmiennych). Artykuł zawiera praktyczną ilustrację technik uzupełnienia agregacyjnych metod badawczych metodami relacyjnymi w socjologii ruchów społecznych. Autor opisuje wyniki badania, którego przedmiotem był ruch skrajnej prawicy w Polsce, w latach 1990–2013. Po zaobserwowaniu zmian czasowych w wariancji przemocy stosowanej przez ruch skrajnej prawicy, zaistniała potrzeba zastosowania bardziej precyzyjnego narzędzia, które umożliwiłoby wyjaśnienie, dlaczego w określonym przedziale czasowym skala przemocy istotnie zmalała. Regresja logistyczna okazała się tylko częściowo pomocna w ustaleniu warunków, w których przemoc ze strony skrajnej prawicy słabnie. Dopiero relacyjne ujęcie pozwoliło uchwycić najważniejsze cechy „przestrzeni” (pola), w jakiej funkcjonuje ruch skrajnej prawicy w Polsce.

The establishment of the Research Network Lukasiewicz (RNL) is aimed at strengthening the research potential and knowledge transfer from research institutes to enterprises. The article presents the results of the research potential analysis of 38 research institutes that are to form the RNL, based on data on scientific publications in 2013–2016. The number of publications of RNL institutes was similar to the number of publications of TNO and VTT institutes but smaller than that of Fraunhofer institutes. The publications of RNL institutes had lower values of indicators of international collaboration and collaboration with business as well as lower values of citation indices. Co-authors of RNL publications were mainly affiliated with national scientific units, whereas co-authorship with Fraunhofer, TNO and VTT institutes was marginal. The article also outlines the limitations and challenges of the adopted research method and future research orientations in this area.

W polskiej socjologii panuje szereg nieporozumień wokół teorii aktora-sieci (ANT). Świetnie obrazuje to tekst An Invasion of Tricksters. Niniejszy artykuł jest odpowiedzią na jego zarzuty. Ambicje naszego tekstu wykraczają poza ukazanie błędów interpretacyjnych i innych niedostatków tego artykułu. Przede wszystkim konfrontujemy tu rożne strategie korzystania przez socjologów z ustaleń filozoficznych i omawiamy ich przydatność naukową. Dodatkowo oferujemy własną, wewnętrzną krytykę ANT.

Celem artykułu jest analiza Ubera jako socjo-technicznej sieci i zrekonstruowanie roli poszczególnych aktorów (ludzkich i pozaludzkich) przy wykorzystaniu pojęć i kategorii ANT. Czynniki pozaludzkie spełniają tutaj rolę społecznego kleju w tworzeniu odpowiednich sieci translacji związanych z pracą kierowców Ubera. Wykorzystując teorię aktora-sieci jako inspirację teoretyczną, w artykule staram się odpowiedzieć na pytanie, czy aplikacja pełni rolę zapośredniczenia czy mediatora oraz jakie są zakulisowe wymiary Ubera. Pokazuję również, że aplikacja jest produktem rynkowym, a niektóre interesy Ubera mają charakter ukryty. W pracy wykorzystano wyniki wywiadów pogłębionych (IDI) z kierowcami Ubera zrealizowane w Warszawie w 2018 roku, a także wyniki analizy postów zamieszczanych w mediach społecznościowych w zamkniętych grupach dyskusyjnych.

Socjologiczne rozumienie związku między pozycją społeczną a gustem muzycznym zostało zakwestionowane za sprawą dyskusji o wszystkożerności. Biorąc ją za cel, dowodzimy, iż badanie zakresu muzycznych upodobań jest co najmniej tak samo ważne, jak badanie tego, co ludzie preferują i w jaki sposób. Lubienie tych samych rzeczy niekoniecznie oznacza zanik różnic klasowych, bo ten sam obiekt może być różnie przyswajany. Opierając się na wywiadach ilościowych i jakościowych z osobami ulokowanymi na różnych klasowych pozycjach w strukturze Wrocławia pokazujemy różnice w liczbie rodzajów cenionej muzyki pomiędzy różnymi kategoriami zawodowymi, testując tezę o wszystkożerności. Następnie zajmujemy się tym, czy różne gatunki muzyczne tworzą konkretne wzory. Dochodzimy do wniosku, że różnice w szerokości gustu nie są jedynymi czy też najważniejszymi różnicami występującymi pomiędzy grupami statusowymi. Znaczące są także typy gustu muzycznego, muzyczne orientacje (na innych ludzi lub na relaks) oraz sposoby życia z muzyką.

Transportation networks respond differently to applied policies. The Tehran Metropolitan Area has one of the most complex networks with complex users, which has experienced many of these policies change within the past decades. In this study, some of these policies and their effect on air pollution is investigated. The goal is to pinpoint the variables which have the most effect on various transportation models and investigate how new policies should be focused. In order to do so, long-term variations of air pollution monitoring stations were analyzed. Results show that the most significant parameter that may affect air pollution is users' behavior due to the lack of a public transportation network and its level of comfort. The results of this study will be useful in developing new policies and evaluating their long-term consequences in appropriate models.

This essay addresses the question of the ties between various social levels, particularly in connection with research on Polish society at various stages of its post-war history. In reference to the theoretical reflections and research presented by Mikołaj Pawlak in the book Tying Micro and Macro: What Fills Up the Sociological Vacuum in 2018, the author of the article argues for the necessity of careful consideration in formulating research generalities, especially when they refer to terms or metaphors coined earlier, such as the idea of a sociological vacuum proposed in the 1970s by Stefan Nowak.

One of the key issues in contemporary urban studies is to consider the city from the perspective of culture and consumption, which are treated as new drivers of urban development and economic prosperity, the essence of urban ways of life, and arenas for the implementation of urban policies. In a consumer society, cities become important nodes where collective and individual consumption takes place on a massive scale. The urban system organizes capabilities and provides the resources for consumption, thus facilitating various kinds of lifestyles. As a result, the urban space operates as an arena of competition, where different consumer orientations and social categories strive physically and symbolically to occupy ground, produce meanings, and create belonging in the spaces and places that constitute the city. In applying Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of a “social field,” the aim of the article is to show how the space of social positions corresponds to the space of cultural practices. Drawing on the study of cultural and leisure activities in Wrocław, four general categories of urban residents are revealed and characterized by their distinct positions in different dimensions of the social space. The analysis also points to social capital (social networks) as an efficient new principle of cultural differentiation. The paper closes with the author’s concluding remarks and guidelines for further research.

The aim of this study is to find the cost design of RC tension with varying conditions using the Artificial Neural Network. Design constraints were used to cover all reliable design parameters, such as limiting cross sectional dimensions and; their reinforcement ratio and even the beahviour of optimally designed sections. The design of the RC tension members were made using Indian and European standard specifications which were discussed. The designed tension members according to both codes satisfy the strength and serviceability criteria. While no literature is available on the optimal design of RC tension members, the cross-sectional dimensions of the tension membersfor different grades of concrete and steel, and area of formwork are considered as the variables in the present optimum design model. A design example is explained and the results are presented. It is concluded that the proposed optimum design model yields rational, reliable, and practical designs.

One of the basic parameters which describes road traffic is Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT). Its accurate determination is possible only on the basis of data from the continuous measurement of traffic. However, such data for most road sections is unavailable, so AADT must be determined on the basis of short periods of random measurements. This article presents different methods of estimating AADT on the basis of daily traffic (VOL), and includes the traditional Factor Approach, developed Regression Models and Artificial Neural Network models. As explanatory variables, quantitative variables (VOL and the share of heavy vehicles) as well as qualitative variables (day of the week, month, level of AADT, the cross-section, road class, nature of the area, spatial linking, region of Poland and the nature of traffic patterns) were used. Based on comparisons of the presented methods, the Factor Approach was identified as the most useful.

In education, information and Communications Technologies mostly play the role of a medium of communication, as well as a means of imparting knowledge. ICT, however, is used less as a subject for student activity, i.e. a subject for students to learn, where they can operate the technology, as in robotics or mechantronics. Information technologies are also very rarely implemented in education as a way for students to build their identity and shape their attitudes towards their outside and inside worlds. In spite of this, in the history of educational technology there have been a number of researchers and educators who have promoted interesting ideas for implementing technologies as tools for human cognitive, affective, psychomotor and moral empowerment. Today such people are also present in education, however, they play unimportant roles on the periphery of formal education. This paper is a reminder of a number of ideas by theorists and researchers concerning the implementation of ICT, but mainly highlights the empowerment it gives students and its humanizing/humanitarian role.