bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Vector portraits, or, photography for the Anthropocene
Authors: Coley Rob
Published: April 2016

The Anthropocene, a concept to describe the planetary consequences of human culture, demands that we imagine the earth itself as an image-recording medium. It is a concept that confronts the entangled histories of industrialization and abstraction, revealing the thoroughly mediated circumstances from which perceptions of ‘nature’ emerge. This article considers an accelerated form of abstraction induced by technological capitalism, a form with thoroughly material consequences described by McKenzie Wark as ‘vectoral’. If the age of the human is recorded on the earth, the vector is the tool of its stratigraphic inscription. Taking Tom McCarthy’s novel Satin Island (2015) as an example, this article speculates on a photographic practice immanent to the vector. In Satin Island (2015), photographic images do not reinforce a human world but instead provoke a growing awareness of otherworldliness. These images confront the more radical and paradoxical consequences of the Anthropocene, an era that in fact names the end of the very category of human.
Photography as a machine organism: The cyberneticization of the photographic and techne as ethics
Authors: Martinez Mark
Published: April 2016

This article proposes a cybernetic photographic theory that takes seriously the philosophical claim that cameras, images and human beings exist as evolving systems of machines-organisms. It provides an epistemological challenge to the modernist problematic of representation – namely, the emergence of human consciousness outside and above nature, and a rationalist distinction between an active, visual-reasoning subject and a passive object. I utilize the (non)philosophy of Francois Lauruelle in order to foreground and deepen the understanding of the ethical thought in cybernetics. My purpose is to build upon ethical philosophy that, as Gilbert Simondon contended, would ‘save the technical object’. There is some urgency to this task as, in saving machines from their own histories and statuses as non-human, representational things in the world, we may begin an ethico-political programme that evaluates the complementary creative processes of human and machine – in a word, our shared Art – in order to save ourselves. It is perhaps the case that any recuperation of cybernetic and photographic theory today be poised not to reckon with our ‘digital’ moment but rather with our Anthropocene era defined by human’s extinction level powers of destruction.
The becoming-photographic of cinema
Authors: Colebrook Claire
Published: April 2016

Both Gilles Deleuze and Bernard Stiegler have sought a renewal of life, perception and philosophy by way of the radical temporality of cinema. In doing so they have, in part, contributed to a long-standing moralism in philosophy that defines itself against the still or photographic image. Rather than see photography as a fragment of a flow of time, and therefore as on its way to becoming cinematic, I argue that the photograph that is cut off from the flow of time provides a more provocative and post-moral way of approaching the relation between philosophy and the arts.
Levinas and the photographic undergone
Authors: Hunting John
Published: April 2016

A Levinasian approach to the photographic offers a unique opportunity to reconsider Levinas’ claim that the ‘face’ cannot be seen. Levinas’ reading of Husserl on time consciousness in mind, it is argued that vision marries an incommensurable debt and reply, a duplicitous interface that is the very expression of embodiment and condition of the face. Brand’s and Pinchevski’s approach to the face and to photography, as incompatible yet necessary conjunctions of address and image, is recruited to advance the thesis that the duplicity belonging to vision and to the face is made explicit when looking at photographs and films. The duplicity of the ‘photographic undergone’, both compelling vision and engineering the self-same, explains as much. Of course the photographic may or may not attest to the face – as address and image, interruption and response, debt and reply – but even when it does the attestation is never without ambiguity and trouble, violations and doubt.
Cardiac Papillary Fibroelastoma: Single-Institution Experience with 14 Surgical Patients
Authors: Abu Saleh Walid K. , Al Jabbari Odeaa , Ramlawi Basel , Reardon Michael J.
Published: April 2016

In general, treatment for symptomatic and asymptomatic cardiac papillary fibroelastoma is surgical resection—particularly of left-sided lesions, because of the risk of systemic embolization. However, few institutions have enough experience with these tumors to validate this approach. We present our institutional experience with papillary fibroelastoma and discuss our current approach.

We searched our institution's cardiac tumor database, identified all patients diagnosed with cardiac papillary fibroelastoma from 1992 through 2014, and recorded the clinical and pathologic characteristics of each case. We found 14 patients (mean age, 60.5 ± 12.3 yr) who had 18 lesions. Eleven patients (79%) were symptomatic; however, we could not always definitively associate their symptoms with a cardiac tumor. Most lesions were solitary and ≤1.5 cm in diameter; half involved the left side of the heart. All 18 lesions were surgically excised. There were no operative or 30-day deaths, and no patient needed valve replacement postoperatively. There was one late death; at one year, another 3 patients were lost to follow-up, and the others were alive without tumor recurrence.

Because of the embolic risk inherent to intracardiac masses and our relatively good postoperative outcomes, we recommend the surgical resection of all left-sided papillary fibroelastomas in surgical candidates, and we discuss with patients the advisability of resecting right-sided lesions.
Rapid Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Overcomes Fulminant Myocarditis Induced by 5‑Fluorouracil
Authors: Amraotkar Alok R. , Pachika Ajay , Grubb Kendra J. , DeFilippis Andrew P.
Published: April 2016

Fulminant myocarditis is a rare but potentially life-threatening illness caused by 5-fluorouracil cardiotoxicity. Data supporting the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for the treatment of fulminant myocarditis are limited.

A 49-year-old, previously healthy white man, recently diagnosed with anal squamous cell carcinoma, developed severe chest pain hours after completing his first 96-hour intravenous 5-fluorouracil treatment. Over a period of 3 days from onset of symptoms, the patient developed cardiogenic shock secondary to fulminant myocarditis induced by 5-fluorouracil cardiotoxicity. This required emergency initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The patient's systolic function recovered by day 5, and on the 17th day he was discharged in hemodynamically stable condition, without symptoms of heart failure.

This case shows the importance of prompt recognition of cardiogenic shock secondary to 5-fluorouracil–induced myocarditis and how the immediate initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation can restore adequate tissue perfusion, leading to myocardial recovery and ultimately the survival of the patient.
Bacterial Endocarditis Caused by Lactobacillus acidophilus Leading to Rupture of Sinus of Valsalva Aneurysm
Authors: Encarnacion Carlos Omar , Loranger Austin Mitchell , Bharatkumar A.G. , Almassi G. Hossein
Published: April 2016

Lactobacillus acidophilus rarely causes bacterial endocarditis, because it usually resides in the mucosa of the vagina, gastrointestinal tract, and oropharynx. Moreover, sinus of Valsalva aneurysms are rare cardiac anomalies, either acquired or congenital. We present the case of a middle-aged man whose bacterial endocarditis, caused by Lactobacillus acidophilus, led to an aneurysmal rupture of the sinus of Valsalva into the right ventricular outflow tract. The patient underwent successful surgical repair, despite numerous complications and sequelae.
Positivity and stability of fractional descriptor time–varying discrete–time linear systems
Authors: Kaczorek Tadeusz
Published: April 2016

The Weierstrass–Kronecker theorem on the decomposition of the regular pencil is extended to fractional descriptor time-varying discrete-time linear systems. A method for computing solutions of fractional systems is proposed. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the positivity of these systems are established.
An integrodifferential approach to modeling, control, state estimation and optimization for heat transfer systems
Authors: Rauh Andreas , Senkel Luise , Aschemann Harald , Saurin Vasily V. , Kostin Georgy V.
Published: April 2016

In this paper, control-oriented modeling approaches are presented for distributed parameter systems. These systems, which are in the focus of this contribution, are assumed to be described by suitable partial differential equations. They arise naturally during the modeling of dynamic heat transfer processes. The presented approaches aim at developing finite-dimensional system descriptions for the design of various open-loop, closed-loop, and optimal control strategies as well as state, disturbance, and parameter estimation techniques. Here, the modeling is based on the method of integrodifferential relations, which can be employed to determine accurate, finite-dimensional sets of state equations by using projection techniques. These lead to a finite element representation of the distributed parameter system. Where applicable, these finite element models are combined with finite volume representations to describe storage variables that are—with good accuracy—homogeneous over sufficiently large space domains. The advantage of this combination is keeping the computational complexity as low as possible. Under these prerequisites, real-time applicable control algorithms are derived and validated via simulation and experiment for a laboratory-scale heat transfer system at the Chair of Mechatronics at the University of Rostock. This benchmark system consists of a metallic rod that is equipped with a finite number of Peltier elements which are used either as distributed control inputs, allowing active cooling and heating, or as spatially distributed disturbance inputs.
Efficient RGB–D data processing for feature–based self–localization of mobile robots
Authors: Kraft Marek , Nowicki Michał , Penne Rudi , Schmidt Adam , Skrzypczyński Piotr
Published: April 2016

The problem of position and orientation estimation for an active vision sensor that moves with respect to the full six degrees of freedom is considered. The proposed approach is based on point features extracted from RGB-D data. This work focuses on efficient point feature extraction algorithms and on methods for the management of a set of features in a single RGB-D data frame. While the fast, RGB-D-based visual odometry system described in this paper builds upon our previous results as to the general architecture, the important novel elements introduced here are aimed at improving the precision and robustness of the motion estimate computed from the matching point features of two RGB-D frames. Moreover, we demonstrate that the visual odometry system can serve as the front-end for a pose-based simultaneous localization and mapping solution. The proposed solutions are tested on publicly available data sets to ensure that the results are scientifically verifiable. The experimental results demonstrate gains due to the improved feature extraction and management mechanisms, whereas the performance of the whole navigation system compares favorably to results known from the literature.
RGB–D terrain perception and dense mapping for legged robots
Authors: Belter Dominik , Łabecki Przemysław , Fankhauser Péter , Siegwart Roland
Published: April 2016

This paper addresses the issues of unstructured terrain modeling for the purpose of navigation with legged robots. We present an improved elevation grid concept adopted to the specific requirements of a small legged robot with limited perceptual capabilities. We propose an extension of the elevation grid update mechanism by incorporating a formal treatment of the spatial uncertainty. Moreover, this paper presents uncertainty models for a structured light RGB-D sensor and a stereo vision camera used to produce a dense depth map. The model for the uncertainty of the stereo vision camera is based on uncertainty propagation from calibration, through undistortion and rectification algorithms, allowing calculation of the uncertainty of measured 3D point coordinates. The proposed uncertainty models were used for the construction of a terrain elevation map using the Videre Design STOC stereo vision camera and Kinect-like range sensors. We provide experimental verification of the proposed mapping method, and a comparison with another recently published terrain mapping method for walking robots.
Adaptive predictions of the euro/złoty currency exchange rate using state space wavelet networks and forecast combinations
Authors: Brdyś Mietek A. , Brdyś Marcin T. , Maciejewski Sebastian M.
Published: April 2016

The paper considers the forecasting of the euro/Polish złoty (EUR/PLN) spot exchange rate by applying state space wavelet network and econometric forecast combination models. Both prediction methods are applied to produce one-trading-day-ahead forecasts of the EUR/PLN exchange rate. The paper presents the general state space wavelet network and forecast combination models as well as their underlying principles. The state space wavelet network model is, in contrast to econometric forecast combinations, a non-parametric prediction technique which does not make any distributional assumptions regarding the underlying input variables. Both methods can be used as forecasting tools in portfolio investment management, asset valuation, IT security and integrated business risk intelligence in volatile market conditions.
The performance profile: A multi–criteria performance evaluation method for test–based problems
Authors: Jaśkowski Wojciech , Liskowski Paweł , Szubert Marcin , Krawiec Krzysztof
Published: April 2016

In test-based problems, solutions produced by search algorithms are typically assessed using average outcomes of interactions with multiple tests. This aggregation leads to information loss, which can render different solutions apparently indifferent and hinder comparison of search algorithms. In this paper we introduce the performance profile, a generic, domain-independent, multi-criteria performance evaluation method that mitigates this problem by characterizing the performance of a solution by a vector of outcomes of interactions with tests of various difficulty. To demonstrate the usefulness of this gauge, we employ it to analyze the behavior of Othello and Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma players produced by five (co)evolutionary algorithms as well as players known from previous publications. Performance profiles reveal interesting differences between the players, which escape the attention of the scalar performance measure of the expected utility. In particular, they allow us to observe that evolution with random sampling produces players coping well against the mediocre opponents, while the coevolutionary and temporal difference learning strategies play better against the high-grade opponents. We postulate that performance profiles improve our understanding of characteristics of search algorithms applied to arbitrary test-based problems, and can prospectively help design better methods for interactive domains.
Modelling DNA and RNA secondary structures using matrix insertion–deletion systems
Authors: Kuppusamy Lakshmanan , Mahendran Anand
Published: April 2016

Insertion and deletion are operations that occur commonly in DNA processing and RNA editing. Since biological macromolecules can be viewed as symbols, gene sequences can be represented as strings and structures can be interpreted as languages. This suggests that the bio-molecular structures that occur at different levels can be theoretically studied by formal languages. In the literature, there is no unique grammar formalism that captures various bio-molecular structures. To overcome this deficiency, in this paper, we introduce a simple grammar model called the matrix insertion–deletion system, and using it we model several bio-molecular structures that occur at the intramolecular, intermolecular and RNA secondary levels.
(Im)pudeur et (im)pudiCité dans le discours afropéen : les affres d’identités décolorées
Authors: Larangé Daniel S.
Published: April 2016

Immodesty is a process of questioning the norms and principles that a society shares. But the shameless speech of Africans who live and publish in France became in norma practice, even expected and exhibited by the media. If there is a truly impudence, it consists to assert the identity of an afropeanity in the heart of the European project, which rejects the dehumanization of the world on the back of the Occident and promotes spiritual values of Islam. Afropean writers overturn the tables of the temple of the Republic to expel the merchants. This verbal abuse is not done to please but to awake consciences.
Évangéline : le désir pudique de l’être-parmi de la communauté acadienne de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard
Authors: Lavoie Carlo
Published: April 2016

The Prince Edward Island (Canada) Acadian culture allocates to the song the role traditionally played by literature. By opening an imaginary universe stigmatized by the Evangeline figure created in nineteenth century by the American Longfellow, Angèle Arsenault’s song “Évangéline, Acadian Queen” offers a possible cultural and community space specific to the Acdian and contributes to the promotion of a “being-among” whose modest desire is to speak French.
Hontologie comparée : de Lopes à Dalembert et Quaghebeur, au r(o)ugissement dans l’œuvre de Diane Meur
Authors: Desorbay Bernadette
Published: April 2016

The shame of being what they are in comparison with the Other supposed to have it (phallic jouissance) creates a relationship, leading to activism and/or symptom, between several characters of French-speaking writers as remote in space as Henri Lopes (Congo), Louis-Philippe Dalembert (Haiti) and Diane Meur (Belgium). The discomfort of the half-blood, Puerto Rican, Jew, for instance, which, for his part and speaking from Belgium, Marc Quaghebeur considers as giving rise to an “enjoyment of the complex,” opening it up onto the world. In Diane Meur’s work, a moral debt or a family secret occasion blush as a consequence of a state of profound ontological instability.
Pudeur et impudeur dans La rêveuse d’Ostende d’Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Authors: Rădulescu Valentina
Published: April 2016

The article explores the actualisations of the concepts of pudency and indecency in Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s short story La Rêveuse d’Ostende. The author tries to demonstrate that the oscillation between pudency and indecency creates an intense erotic tension which maintains the narrative tension. The leading idea at the end of the analysis is that characthers’ interior tension due to sensual experiences influences the narrative’s process tension.
An Efficient Monte Carlo Approach to Compute PageRank for Large Graphs on a Single PC
Authors: Sonobe Tomohiro
Published: April 2016

This paper describes a novel Monte Carlo based random walk to compute PageRanks of nodes in a large graph on a single PC. The target graphs of this paper are ones whose size is larger than the physical memory. In such an environment, memory management is a difficult task for simulating the random walk among the nodes. We propose a novel method that partitions the graph into subgraphs in order to make them fit into the physical memory, and conducts the random walk for each subgraph. By evaluating the walks lazily, we can conduct the walks only in a subgraph and approximate the random walk by rotating the subgraphs. In computational experiments, the proposed method exhibits good performance for existing large graphs with several passes of the graph data.
Heuristic possibilistic clustering for detecting optimal number of elements in fuzzy clusters
Authors: Viattchenin Dmitri A.
Published: April 2016

The paper deals with the problem of discovering fuzzy clusters with optimal number of elements in heuristic possibilistic clustering. The relational clustering procedure using a parameter that controls cluster sizes is considered and a technique for detecting the optimal number of elements in fuzzy clusters is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is illustrated through numerical examples. Experimental results are discussed and some preliminary conclusions are formulated.
Reorganisation of Oncologic Care in Greece: A Proposal
Authors: Emmanouilides Christos
Published: April 2016

Cancer is becoming a major public health issue as patients enjoy longer survivals than ever before due to the introduction innovative but expensive drugs in the clinic. In addition, the ageing of the population in Greece is expected to increase the absolute incidence of cancer. The National Health System should rapidly and efficiently adapt to the new challenges, including increased pharmaceutical costs. Resources ought to be allocated rationally and efficiently while maintaining adequate coverage for the insured population. Economising due to large-scale operations should be pursued by the governmental single payor (EOPYY), so that affordable coverage remains feasible. Establishment of mechanisms to deal with new and very costly drugs should be put in place. The major changes in anchor oncologic hospitals are needed in order to play a role as regional leaders in oncologic care, including merging of similar divisions, subspecialisation of services and promotion of clinical research. These major centres could coordinate a host of satellite oncology services in other urban hospitals and in the provinces. In addition, joint operations in training and patient care should be pursued with major private centres, without mutual mistrust or obsolete inflexibilities. The current financial crisis represents an excellent opportunity for revisioning and restructuring oncologic care in Greece, taking into account the societal needs and based on flexibility and efficiency.
The Various Shapes of Innovation
Authors: Roubou I. , Alexopoulou D.K.
Published: April 2016

Background: Innovation is one of the most difficult words to define, especially when it comes to health technology. The aim of this article is to get a better understanding of the multi-dimensional facet of innovation, how this is valued by different stakeholders and the way forward in order to create innovative interventions for the sake of the patients and the society.

Methods: A literature search was performed using mainly the PubMed database and reports from various organisations (EFPIA, etc.).

Results: In the past, innovation in the pharmaceutical industry was the result of the findings of basic science translated into clinical compounds, ending up in marketed drugs. This model is not valid anymore since significant changes reshaped the drivers of innovations and the key players. Rising costs, increased competition, new scientific and technological developments, well-informed patients created a much more challenging environment where coordinated and committed collaboration seemed to be the only way to overcome these obstacles and reach innovation in order to discover, develop and deliver medicines to patients.

Conclusions: Innovation initiatives have already proved their value by providing solutions to the major challenges the industry faces. It is now clear that a healthy biomedical ecosystem is determined by all stakeholders-academia, nonprofit/for-profit research institutions, government agencies, pharma/biotech industry and patients. Innovation initiatives provide the platform needed in which all stakeholders can meet and share their knowledge in order to deliver through innovation improved outcomes for patients while shaping an efficient and sustainable healthcare system.
Healthcare access for cancer patients in the era of economic crisis. Results from the HOPE III study
Authors: Souliotis Kyriakos , Agapidaki Eirini , Papageorgiou Manto
Published: April 2016

Background: Despite the documentation of addressing healthcare disparities in detection and treatment of cancer and health outcomes for cancer patients, the inequalities persist. Cancer patients of several vulnerable groups suffer disproportionally the effect of economic crisis on health and healthcare.

Patients & Methods: A cross sectional survey was carried out between July and October 2014 in order to assess the cancer patients’ barriers to healthcare access. A total of 426 cancer patients, members of cancer patient organization participated in the study. Data were collected by using an online, self reported questionnaire evaluating three main areas: healthcare access (7 items), economic status and financial burden of the disease (17 items) and the alteration on several aspects related to the disease (8 items) from 2009 to 2014.

Results: Approximately 31% of cancer patients reported that they faced barriers to healthcare access for cancer treatment during the last 12 months. The main barriers included long waiting time for a medical appointment (51%) and inability to visit a private physician due to the incapability to pay the out of pocket cost (44%). One in four patient encountered obstacles in medication access which resulted to treatment delay (46%), worsened health status (96%) and increased out of pocket costs (39%).

Conclusions: Results suggest that there are vulnerable groups among cancer patients in Greece who suffer disproportionally more the impact of economic crisis on health and healthcare. Healthcare reforms and targeted interventions should be implemented in order to effectively address the inequities in access for cancer patients.
The studies of granitoids from the Sobótka region in light of theories of the origin of colour in minerals
Authors: Lewicka Ewa
Published: April 2016

The article presents the results of the studies of 19 feldspar-quartz raw materials samples, coming from deposits located in the Sobótka region, in light of four distinct physical theories explaining mechanisms for creating the colour of minerals. This is a successive stage of research carried out by the author on reasons for colour variation of samples after firing at 1200°C. This step encompassed a detailed chemical analysis for main and trace elements contents of all the investigated samples as well as Mössbauer studies of two of them. The chemical analysis reveals that the darkest samples are characterised by the highest contents of the following colouring compounds and elements: Fe2O3, MnO, Th, U, Ce, Nd, and V, accompanied by a relatively low amount of TiO2. The Mössbauer studies demonstrated the quantitative predominance of Fe2+over Fe3+in the sample of a relatively darker hue with a high Fe2O3content, while its spectra parameters suggest that Fe2+is located in octahedral coordination that can result in a cold blue tint. Cations Fe3+(located probably in the tetrahedral position) prevail in the other analysed sample that contain less Fe2O3and a relatively high content of TiO2, Ce, and Nd. This probably causes a warm, reddish shade of the sample. The above-mentioned observations and examinations lead to the finding that, at this stage of the investigations, the crystal field theory could be the best suited for the interpretation of colour of the studied samples. This formalism associates the colour origin with ions of the transition elements, some REE and actinides located in the structure of minerals, and their ability to selectively absorb visible light.
Data on mineral raw materials trade turnover – evolution of methodology
Authors: Tymiński Marcin , Szuflicki Marcin , Malon Agnieszka , Szamałek Krzysztof
Published: April 2016

The article presents the history of collecting data on mineral raw materials export and import in Poland and balancing mineral raw materials resources. The methodology of gathering data was analyzed on the basis of the publication “The Balance of Mineral Resources Deposits in Poland”. This is the current title of the yearbook, the back issues of which are collected in the Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute headquarters. During the last decades the institutions responsible for collecting and delivering data have changed and they were cited in the article along with the names of general editors of the publication and the authors of the chapter devoted to the exports and imports. As a result, data on mineral raw materials international trade have been presented every year. Moreover, the scope of data and the manner of their presentation were covered in the article. The information on Polish export and import of mineral raw materials has been compiled since the 1960s. Significant changes took place for more than 50 years not only within Polish but also in the world economy, and these economic conditions – the growing number of trade partners, changes in accounting for commodities or currency changes – were the main factors influencing the successive conversions of data presentations. The range of data grew significantly, the source of data altered several times and the methodology of data presentation changed a lot. Over time, there were data presented in longer hindsight and not only on exports and imports but also on the turnover balance. The balance is treated as a reflection of the domestic mineral raw materials sector and of a situation in world mineral economy. Thus, tendencies in the trade turnover have been presented for the last 30 years, for export, import and balance. Graphs were also included in the article showing such changes in relation to the value and magnitude of the trade turnover for all mineral resources and for particular groups – energy, metallic, chemical and rock raw materials. The most important raw materials – in terms of affecting the total balance in Poland – were also specified in the article.
Problem of unlicensed aggregates exploitation in Poland
Authors: Walentek Iwona , Sołomacha Marta , Olejniczak Kamilla
Published: April 2016

Despite the absolute prohibition against minerals exploitation without having a mining concession, which was valid until the end of 2011, research conducted by the Polish Geological Institute–National Researching Institute has showed that minerals exploitation without having a mining concession has been prevalent all over the country, mainly that concerning sand and gravel aggregates. Unlicensed exploitation has a negative influence on the natural environment, lower landscape values as well as the State Treasury’s revenues. Actions taken by the geological administration bodies in order to punish a perpetrator have been ineffective. Administrative decisions that charged higher exploitation fees have been issued only in very few cases. But great majority of cases are discontinued after lengthy administrative proceedings. Attempts at liberalization the Geological and Mining Law dated 9 June 2011 (Journal of Laws No. 163, item 981), which since the beginning of 2012 has allowed owners of an area exploit sand and gravel aggregates for their own needs in amounts not greater than 10 m3 per year, do not contribute to eliminating this practice. A spatial database collecting information about points of unconcessioned minerals exploitation all over Poland has been operated since 2008, within the Geoenvironmental Map of Poland II – 1:50,000 scale managed by PIG-PIB. Only large mines and quarries have been taken into account (an area of more than 1 are). All points are verified during a site inspection, a full description and photographic documentation are made for every single working. There are over 2600 points of unconcessioned exploitation located in southern and south-western Poland currently included in the database. By the end of 2015, the registration of points in northern and north-eastern Poland will have been completed. The database with all the collected points is available at: emgsp.pgi.gov.pl.
New data on the resources of sand and grave aggregates for road investment and construction in Poland
Authors: Kozłowska Olimpia , Sołomacha Marta , Walentek Iwona
Published: April 2016

Upon accession to the European Union, economic growth became accelerated in Poland, resulting in a boost in infrastructure development. This led to a marked growth in demand for natural sand-gravel aggregates and other raw materials used in road construction. To meet the demand for suitable raw materials, the Ministry of Environment commissioned the Polish Geological Institute–National Research Institute to start a re-evaluation of earlier raw material prognoses assessments in order to delineate prognostic areas for development of new resources. The re-evaluation has been conducted by the PGI-NRI within the frame of the compilation of the Geoenvironmental Map of Poland at the scale of 1:50 000, making it possible to identify potential conflicts with land-use plans as well as already established NATURA 2000 and other natural heritage conservation designations and more or less continuous built up areas which preclude or at least impede exploitation of mineral raw materials. The analyses also covered economic factors related to costs of transport and the current economic criteria of mineral resources and reserves. At the first stage of the project (between 2008 and 2012) the re-evaluation was conducted in 432 prognostic areas with a total area of over 33 thousands of hectares. According to the current economic criteria of sand-gravel aggregate deposits there were estimated resources of over 5 mld tons, of which around 3 mld tons of aggregates were suitable for road investments and over 2 mld tons of aggregates were suitable for construction.

The work has made it possible to re-evaluate the occurrences of natural aggregates in the vicinities of urban centers and along corridors delineated for selected planned motorways and expressways as well as those under construction. The study was compiled especially for business entities involved in construction projects or the exploitation of mineral resources and state administrative units as a tool to support land-use planning and management at the level of individual communes, counties (poviats) and voivodeships.

Re-evaluated prognostic areas data are gathered in spatial database and are available through WMS service on the Geoenvironmental Map of Poland portal (emgsp.pgi.gov.pl).
Clays of Wierzbka I deposit (northern margin of Holy Cross Mountains) for the production of clinker tiles
Authors: Gajek Marcin , Partyka Janusz , Rapacz-Kmita Alicja , Wójcik Łukasz , Dudek Magdalena , Gasek Katarzyna
Published: April 2016

The paper presents results of research on the assessment of the suitability of the Wierzbka I Triassic clay raw materials, which are part of the Wierzbka deposit near Suchedniów, for the production of clinker tiles obtained by pressing. Red colour clays are often used in the production technology of clinker tiles. The high content of Fe2O3 in the composition of red clays promotes the sintering process and affects the colour of the resulting material, a typical characteristic of clinker materials. The raw materials used in this technology should have good sinterability, which guarantees a material with low water absorption, high chemical resistance and mechanical strength.

Samples of the raw materials were taken from three different depths of the deposit, and subjected to analysis as follows: chemical composition, phase composition (XRD, thermal analysis DSC/TG), sintering shrinkage, sintering curve and the characteristic temperatures. The analysis of the microstructure was determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The X-ray and thermal analysis of the studied clays revealed the presence of clay minerals such as: illite, kaolinite, illite/smectite, but also quartz and ferruginous minerals. There was no presence of calcium carbonate in the tested samples of the raw clay, which particularly distinguishes these materials as being suitable for use in the fast firing technology of clinker tiles. Samples of the raw materials were pressed under a pressure ranging from 21 to 42 MPa and then fired at temperatures in the range 1130 to 1220°C. The obtained sintered bodies were characterized by a high degree of sintering, an apparent density of 2.31g/cm3, an open porosity of less than 2.5% and water absorption below 1.0%. The results of this study indicate a high technological value of raw materials from the Wierzbka I deposit.
Application of electrodynamic drum separator to electronic wastes separation
Authors: Cieśla Antoni , Kraszewski Wojciech , Skowron Mikołaj , Surowiak Agnieszka , Syrek Przemysław
Published: April 2016

Static electric fields are used, among others, in technological processes such as electric separation. Electrodynamic separation is a process of separating two or more solid phases of various physical properties by electric field forces. The advantage of electrodynamic separation is possibility of obtaining separation of individual components in dry conditions. This eliminates many operations such as thickening, dewatering, hydrotransportation, additional drying which cause higher energy consumption and higher separation process costs. Efficiency of beneficiation depends on many factors such as: electric properties of feed components, feed particle size distribution, drum rotary speed, electric field intensity in working space of separator, configuration of electrodes or surrounding conditions.

The paper presents the working of high-voltage drum separator. The analysis of electric field distribution in separator working space was done. Additionally, distribution of forces acting on particles of dielectric and conductive properties was examined, trajectories of charged particles movement were presented too. The laboratory investigations of electronic wastes were performed in two particle fractions: 0.25–0.5 mm and 0–0.25 mm. It was observed that as a result of selective charging of particles they separate according to surface ability to electrifying what allows to obtain selective separation of components being so-called electronic wastes. The application of electrodynamic drum separator allows to separate such elements as Ti, Cu, Fe, Pb, Sn from plastics occurring in electronic wastes.
Children’s processing of morphosyntactic and prosodic cues in overriding context-based hypotheses: an eye tracking study
Authors: Armstrong Meghan E. , Andreu Llorenç , Esteve-Gibert Núria , Prieto Pilar
Published: April 2016

This research explores children’s ability to integrate contextual and linguistic cues. Prior work has shown that children are not able to weigh contextual information in an adult-like way and that between the age of 4 and 6 they show difficulties in revising a hypothesis they have made based on early-arriving linguistic information in sentence processing. Therefore we considered children’s ability to confirm or override a context-based hypothesis based on linguistic information. Our objective in this study was to test (1) children’s (ages 4–6) ability to form a hypothesis based on contextual information, (2) their ability to override such a hypothesis based on linguistic information and (3) how children are able to use different types of linguistic cues (morphosyntactic versus prosodic) to confirm or override the initial hypothesis. Results from both offline (pointing) and online (eye tracking) tasks suggest that children in this age group indeed form hypotheses based on contextual information. Age effects were found regarding children’s ability to override these hypotheses. Overall, 4-year-olds were not shown to be able to override their hypotheses using linguistic information of interest. For 5- and 6-year-olds, it depended on the types of linguistic cues that were available to them. Children were better at using morphosyntactic cues to override an initial hypothesis than they were at using prosodic cues to do so. Our results suggest that children slowly develop the ability to override hypotheses based on early-arriving information, even when that information is extralinguistic and contextual. Children must learn to weight different types of cues in an adult-like way. This developmental period of learning to prioritize different cues in an adult-like way is consistent with a constraint-based model of learning.
Reducibility by Moments of Linear Impulse Markov Dynamical Systems with Almost Constant Coefficients
Authors: Carkovs Jevgeņijs , Pola Aija , Šadurskis Kārlis
Published: April 2016

This paper deals with linear impulse dynamical systems on ℝd whose parameters depend on an ergodic piece-wise constant Markov process with values from some phase space 𝕐 and on a small parameter ɛ. Trajectories of Markov process x(t,y)∈ ℝd satisfy a system of linear differential equations with close to constant coefficients on its continuity intervals, while its phase coordinate changes discontinuously when Markov process switching occur. Jump sizes depend linearly on the phase coordinate and are proportional to the small parameter ɛ. We propose a method and an algorithm for choosing the base 𝔹(t,y) of the space ℝd that provides approximation of average phase trajectories E{x(t,y)} by a solution of a system of linear differential equations with constant coefficients.
Exemplar narratives: Resources for maintaining solidarity and upholding group standards in an American quilting guild
Authors: Launspach Sonja
Published: April 2016

Using conversational data from an ethnographic study of a quilting guild, this article examines how narratives are used to negotiate the tension between maintaining solidarity and upholding group standards. The quilting guild, as a community of practice, provides an excellent context to investigate how narratives are used to construct and reinforce community practices. In this community, the socially situated activity, the quilted blocks on display, and their relationship to the narratives in the discourse are integral components of the interactional frame. The analysis specifically focuses on the role exemplar narratives play in negotiating the tensions between not criticizing other quilters and the group’s need to maintain quilting values and appropriate sewing skills. Through self-disclosure, exemplar narratives construct a less than perfect quilter. This self-portrayal acts to mitigate any implied criticism of intended recipient(s). Drawing on the sociocultural resources of common experiences and self-disclosure, exemplar narratives perform different interactional functions such as modeling accepted quilting practices, constructing both individual and group identities, and preserving an egalitarian floor. Thus, they are a strategic means to negotiate tensions between criticism and support necessary for participant learning in this community of practice.
Kriminalität im Dienste der Gesellschaft
Authors: Strasser Hermann , Brink Henning van den
Published: April 2016

Für Durkheim ist Kriminalität eine ebenso normale wie notwendige gesellschaftliche Erscheinung. Kriminalität erfülle Funktionen, die für den Fortbestand und die Weiterentwicklung einer Gesellschaft wichtig seien. Durch Kriminalität würden die gesellschaftlichen Normen symbolisch verdeutlicht, solidarisierten sich die Gesellschaftsmitglieder und werde die zukünftige Moral antizipiert. Vor diesem Hintergrund scheint die Prävention von Kriminalität, wie sie zur Zeit in den Kommunen verstärkt betrieben wird, zum Scheitern verurteilt und kontraproduktiv für die gesellschaftliche Entwicklung zu sein. Dieser Beitrag untersucht, inwiefern auch Kriminalprävention gesellschaftliche Funktionen erfüllt, die jene der Kriminalität verstärken oder ergänzen. So dient Kriminalprävention vor allem zur Demonstration der Handlungs- und Steuerungsfähigkeit des Staates, zur symbolischen Normverdeutlichung; sie stiftet aber auch Identität und stärkt den Zusammenhalt der Bürger.
Das Recht – ein Territorium staatlicher Hoheit?
Authors: Pelicand Antoine
Published: April 2016

Seit 2002 gibt es eine neue Kategorie von Richtern im französischen Gerichtswesen: die „bürgernahe“ Richter. Ihr Auftrag ist es, ein anderes Modell der Justiz zu fördern, bei dem die Schlichtung und das Informelle im Mittelpunkt stehen. Der Artikel stellt diese Reform in die Perspektive der Veränderungen von Staatsregulierung dar. Wenn man die Vereinheitlichung des Justizwesens am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts zum Vergleich heranzieht, wird deutlich, daß die Professionalisierung des Richteramtes und der wachsende Rekurs auf das Gesetz für die Konfliktlösung mit der zunehmenden Regulierung der Gesellschaft seitens eines jakobinischen Staates verbunden ist. Trotzdem erlaubt die heutige Infragestellung der Staatsrolle keine einfache Einführung alternativer Methoden der Streitschlichtung im Gerichtswesen.
Wie wirkt Rechtsprechung? / On the effects of court decisions
Authors: Höland Armin
Published: April 2016

In einem rechtswissenschaftlichen Verständnis von Gewaltenteilung und Rechtsstaat liegt die Zuständigkeit für die letztverbindliche Entscheidung von Streitigkeiten ausschließlich bei den Gerichten. Die Frage der Wirkungen von gerichtlichen Entscheidungen wird daher für gewöhnlich auf den rechtlichen und institutionellen Rahmen der Gerichtsverfahren und der sich anschließenden Vollstreckung beschränkt. Die rechtssoziologische Betrachtung der Wirkungen von Rechtsprechung spannt hingegen einen breiteren Betrachtungswinkel auf. Gerichtsentscheidungen finden über den individuellen Verfahrenskontext hinaus zunehmend in allgemeine rechtliche, rechtspolitische und politische Diskurse Eingang. Das hat im Wesentlichen drei Ursachen. Gerichtliche Verfahren können aus Motiven und Gründen in Gang gesetzt werden, die sich nicht in den Prozessordnungen wieder finden, beispielsweise zur Wiederherstellung des persönlichen Ansehens, zur sozialen Genugtuung oder zur Bildung öffentlichen Bewusstseins. Mitunter haben Gerichte ein eigenes Interesse daran, Botschaften und Interpretationen auszusenden, sei es in Form von obiter dicta, sei es durch Pressemitteilungen, Vorträge oder rechtswissenschaftliche Beiträge zum Fachschrifttum. Schließlich spielen die Medien eine außerordentlich wichtige Rolle in der Verbreitung und Übersetzung (ausgewählter) Streitfragen und Gerichtsentscheidungen in Diskurse zur Gerechtigkeit und Fairness in der Gesellschaft. Insgesamt wirken Gerichte und Richter verstärkt an öffentlicher Deliberation über Werte und Normen und an den Diskursen in der Gesellschaft mit.
„Wenn Sie nicht selber etwas wollen, dann passiert gar nichts“. Aktivierende Arbeitsmarktpolitik und die Grenzen der ‚Individualisierung‘ von Arbeitslosigkeit / “Nothing’s going to happen unless you want it yourself ”. Activation, labour market policies and the limits to individualisation of unemployment
Authors: Ludwig-Mayerhofer Wolfgang
Published: April 2016

Die in Deutschland in den Jahren 2002 bis 2005 transformierte Arbeitsmarktpolitikkann unter dem Stichwort Aktivierung analysiert werden. In diesem Kontext heißt Aktivierung vor allem, die individuelle Verantwortung der Arbeitslosen für die Beendigung von Arbeitslosigkeit und Hilfebedürftigkeit zu betonen. So verstanden kann Aktivierung mit der Vorstellung individueller Autonomie assoziiert werden. Die Praxis der deutschen Arbeitsverwaltung zeigt aber, dass die Autonomie der Arbeitslosen tendenziell ausgehebelt wird. Gerade deshalb wächst aber bei den Arbeitslosen das Bedürfnis, von der Arbeitsverwaltung unabhängig zu werden und sich den Gesetzen des Marktes zu unterwerfen. Solche ‚Individualisierung‘ steht nicht im Gegensatz zu sozialer Integration; denn diese kann auch dadurch erreicht werden, dass der Glaube an die Marktgesetze und die Notwendigkeit der Individuen, sich diesen anzupassen, verallgemeinert wird.