Warsaw Research Articles

Supporting Infants' Motor Development through Water Activities: A Preliminary Case-Control Study.

The first twelve months of an infant's life are the most dynamic time in the development of motor activities. Water activities can positively stimulate the motor skills, visual perception, and cognitive abilities of infants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the motor development of infants aged 3-12 months participating in water activities. Participants in the study included 43 infants aged 3-12 months who attended water activities classes at Warsaw City swimming pools (n = 21) and infants not attending any classes (n = 22). Two methods of assessing motor development were used in the study: the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) and the Early Motor Development Questionnaire (EMQ). The raw scores of the AIMS test and the EMQ questionnaire were statistically significantly different (p < 0.05) in both groups between the first and second examinations. In contrast, there was a statistically significant improvement in motor development measured by AIMS and expressed in percentiles (p = 0.002) and in percentiles for Polish children (p = 0.030) in the water group. The age-independent total score of the EMQ before and after the intervention did not change significantly (p = 0.149). The water environment has the potential to support the motor development of infants aged 3-12 months.

The establishment and activities of the Civil Special Court of the Warsaw province and of the Capital City of Warsaw subjected to the Government Delegation for Poland (November-December 1942 – 4 September 1944)

Artykuł przedstawia podstawy prawne sądownictwa podległego Delegaturze Rządu na Kraj, a także historię powołania i działalność Cywilnego Sądu Specjalnego w Warszawie z uwzględnieniem prawników zaangażowanych w jego działalność, sposób działania oraz jednostki współpracujące z sądem. W artykule ukazano również osoby skazane przez Cywilny Sąd Specjalny, formułowane przeciwko nim zarzuty oraz okoliczności wykonania wydanych wyroków śmierci.

Assessing the Quality of Life of Regional Centres in Poland in the Context of Smart and Sustainable Cities

Abstract The article addresses the issue of quality of life in cities based on developed methodology. A multidimensional approach was adopted, namely 28 subindices characterizing seven dimensions affecting the quality of life in 18 provincial cities in Poland. The developed methodology consisted of two stages. In the first stage, using the indicators, the values of quality-of-life indices for the studied dimensions were determined. In the second stage, using these results, the values of the total quality-of-life indices in the studied cities were measured. Then, rankings for the cities in question were created. In addition, based on the values of the dimension indices and total indices, the levels of quality of life were determined. Relationships between parameters characterizing the sizes of studied cities and their wealth and the determined quality of life were also measured. The Gray Rational Analysis method was used for ranking, and three objective analytical methods were used to determine index weights: Equal weight, Entropy and CRITIC, and the Laplace’s criterion. The results indicate that living standards in the studied cities vary widely, both in terms of the value of the total index and the indices of individual dimensions. The best living conditions were found in Warsaw (the capital of Poland), Białystok and Olsztyn, and the worst in Kielce and Szczecin.

Dieback of small‐leaved lime trees (Tilia cordata Mill.) caused by Gibsiella quercinecans in urban areas in Poland

AbstractIn the summer of 2023, small‐leaved lime trees (Tilia cordata) in the capital city of Warsaw were found to be dying along transport routes. The stem fragments collected for analysis showed the presence of necrosis near larval galleries caused by Agrilus viridis (L.). After a detailed microbiological analysis of both the tissues taken directly from the necroses and from the larval galleries, the presence of five different bacteria was confirmed, including Gibsiella quercinecans, which is responsible for the phenomenon of oak stand dieback known as Acute Oak Dieback. The pathogenicity tests carried out confirmed that this bacterium is also capable of causing necrosis on lime trees. The fact that this bacterium was found in the larval galleries of the polyphagous A. viridis could also indicate that it was vectored into the lime tree from other species, for example, oaks. The results obtained are the first report on the occurrence of G. quercinecans on lime trees in Poland.

Mapping urban well-being with Quality Of Life Index (QOLI) at the fine-scale of grid data

Accessibility of transport infrastructure, commercial amenities, recreational facilities, and green spaces is widely recognised as crucial to the well-being of urban residents. However, these features are often unevenly distributed across the geographical boundaries of a city, leading to disparities in the local quality of life. This study focuses on the city of Warsaw, Poland, and uses the aforementioned characteristics and the framework of the '15-min city' concept to construct a grid-level urban Quality of Life Index (QOLI) that facilitates comparisons between the city’s districts and local neighbourhoods. The results of our study reveal a “high-inside, low-outside” pattern of quality of life, characterised by higher standards of living in the central districts and lower standards at the city's periphery.

The Perspectives Of The Cities Evolution In Poland

Urban development is determined not only by geographical and demographic factors, but also by economic, social, systemic, and legal ones. The process of granting town statutes and privileges in the Middle Ages and implementation of the Magdeburg rights were crucial for the foundation of cities in Poland. Cities were distinguished from settlement units by having borough rights. The modern age was a period of decline in the political importance of cities and then their destruction, especially during the Swedish Deluge. The restoration, which began in the mid-18th century, was interrupted by the partitions of Poland. During the partitions period, Polish cities were only provincial city centres of other foreign countries, but in Lodz, for example, industry flourished. Interwar Poland is a period when new ties developed between existing urban units, but after the Second World War the borders were moved westward. The socialist system did not enable establishing strong functional links between regions, but it was a period of industrialisation and urbanisation. The administrative reform of 1975 created a unique polycentric arrangement of 49 cities as capitals of voivodeships (provinces). The political transformation after 1989 and the economic and social changes led to a crisis in small and medium-sized cities. The costly reform of 1999 exacerbated this problem by favouring metropolitan areas and the capital city of Warsaw. Currently, it is estimated that 122 small and medium-sized towns and cities in Poland are at risk of depopulation. The solution to this structural collapse could be extensive deglomeration.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INJURIES AND DEATHS CAUSED BY ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN POLAND AND SELECTED EU COUNTRIES

The article examines the relationship between three dependent variables: the quantity of accidents on roads in Poland and the quantities of those hurt and killed as a result. Data were obtained from police websites between 2016 and 2021. Multidimensional comparative analyses were used for the research, which, by grouping data and compiling them dynamically in various scales depending on the needs, allowed us to observe trends such as seasonality on a monthly basis (data in a month - Fig. 2) and a downward trend (data in years Fig. 3). This became a premise for building a multiple regression model, which allowed us to dynamically observe the correlation between the quantity of accidents in Poland and the quantity of people hurt and killed as a result. The above-mentioned regularity was described by the function: Y = ‒67,9212 + 1,3341*v(2) + 0,7332*v(3) + +28,4305*v(4) and the built model was analyzed and evaluated. Then, information on the quantity of road accidents and quantities of people killed and hurt in the capital city of Warsaw from January 2021 to December 2022 were used for the research and compared with the data observed throughout Poland. To observe the impact of the random factor, which was a strong increase in the scale of fines in 2022, especially for exceeding the limit of speed by approximately more than 31 km/h. Dynamic indices on a constant base were calculated for the research. It was found that in 2022, compared to 2021, there was a visible decline in the quantity of people killed in road accidents in Warsaw from 42 to 30 people. A similar regularity can be observed in the data on fatalities in road accidents throughout Poland in the identical time period [11]. Moreover, there was no correlation between the time series of fatalities in road accidents in Warsaw and the quantity of accidents and injuries in 2022.

Analysis of greenery coverage of the area of the City ofWarsaw on the quality of life of residents on the basis of spatial and statistical data

Biologically active areas play an extremely important role in the structure of a city and increasing their coverage, especially in large urban centres, is an activity with a number of advantages. This article compares, in terms of green spaces, two European cities of similar size – Warsaw (517.2 km2) and Oslo (454 km2). Both cities are capitals of their respective countries but implement different spatial policies in the scope of the Green Deal. In Warsaw, many industrial and post-industrial areas still exist and simultaneously urban green areas are decreasing year by year. In Oslo, a strategy based on deindustrialisation of the city and possible maximum use of urban greenery and public spaces is implemented. The research described in this article involved analysing the coverage of the analysed cities and their districts with biologically active area and then checking the correlation with other indicators that can be affected by this coverage. These included data on the incidence of the most common diseases among residents, the attractiveness of living for the elderly and families with children, as well as air and soil pollution and the occurrence of negative effects of climate change. The correlation of urban space use in terms of the presence of industrial land in relation to currently existing green spaces in the districts concerned was subsequently determined.

Researching Pre-1808 Polish-Jewish Ancestral Roots: The KUMEC and KRELL Case Studies

Tracing the ancestral roots of Polish Jews before the introduction of metrical data in 1808 represents a unique and complex challenge for genealogists and historians alike. Indeed, limited official records, shifting geopolitical boundaries, and the absence of standardized documentation practices characterize that early era. Sometimes, however, genealogical sources and records unique to Jews, based on religious daily life and traditions, have subsisted. When available, they open unforeseen avenues into identifiable family histories for which no other record, or personal memories, are available. In other cases, less well-known archival records unexpectedly emerge to elucidate a perplexing genealogical problem. The present article deals with two such instances with a similar starting point, namely, the apparent impossibility of merging two family clusters with the same surname in a given town. The first case deals with two separate KUMEC clusters in the small Polish town of Konskie. Research of this specific case, using limited official records, leads to the discovery of a single-family line dating back to the early 1600s, by means of complementary metrical and rabbinical data. The second case deals with two distinct KRELL clusters in the city of Warsaw, which, after 25 years of extensive but unsuccessful research, finally leads to merging into a cohesive KRELL ancestral line dating back to the early 1700s, by means of a less exploited source of archival records. The present study puts forward guiding principles for searches back to pre-1808 Jewish family history. As such, it should be useful to researchers encountering similar roadblocks in the quest for their Jewish ancestors.

Cities in transition: Krakow‘s social, economic and spatial transformation within the last thirty years (selected aspects)

Krakow is a city that has undergone an immense transformation in recent years. At the end of the 1980s, the period of communism ended and Polish local governments began to operate based on the principles of subsidiarity, decentralisation and independence. In 2004, Poland joined the European Union, which opened up new prospects for development, including in regional and local terms. The world has become a networked and digitized entity susceptible to the influence of innovation. Due to metropolitisation processes, cities, especially those offering above-average earnings, a diversification of economic resources and a relatively high quality of life, began to develop even more dynamically, which had and still has negative consequences. In Poland, there are five cities in which development dynamics have a highly specific dimension. Apart from the capital city of Warsaw, these are Krakow, Wrocław, Poznań and the agglomeration of the so-called Tri-city (Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia). The aim of this study is to show how Krakow, the second-largest city in Poland, has evolved over the last three decades at the level of demographics, urban development and economy; how it changed in the historical “milestones” indicated above. Therefore, depending on the availability of statistical data, several time periods were selected and compared with each other in the most important areas of Krakow’s functioning. The research hypothesis is as follows: Krakow’s development policy in key areas optimally uses the opportunities resulting from contextual conditions (social, economic and cultural changes that have taken place in recent decades). The study focuses on the three main problems of the city’s development (the abovementioned key areas of the city’s functioning and development): socio-demographic, spatial and economic changes. The analysis assessed data from the literature, city reports and other available sources, as well as public quantitative data (assessment of data from the National Census for the years 1988, 2002, 2011, 2022; Local Data Bank of Statistics Poland and otherrepositories and reports).

Reforma kalendarza w Cerkwi prawosławnej w Polsce w latach 1923-1925

The decision to reform the calendar in the Orthodox Church was made by Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory VII. The new style was to be introduced on March 10, 1924. The patriarch's resolution was met with mixed feelings, opening a period of stormy synodal discussions in local Orthodox Churches. In Poland, the calendar issue turned into a political problem due to the intervention of government authorities in the internal life of the Church. The Orthodox population treated the above decision as a violation of religious freedoms. The lack of reception of the synodal act of April 12, 1924 regarding the adoption of a new style by Orthodox believers in Poland forced the Holy Synod to change its position on this matter. At the meeting of August 16, 1924, the Orthodox episcopate decided to repeal the previous resolution on the mandatory use of the new style wherever the faithful required it. The issue of the reform of the Church calendar has proven that when making such decisions, the Polish government and the Church hierarchy must take into account the position of the faithful. As a result, the Orthodox Church remained in the old style throughout the country, with the exception of the capital city of Warsaw.

Kwestia unicka w badaniach wychowanków wybranych warszawskich uczelni ostatniego stulecia. Przyczynek do historii historiografii

The Uniate Question in Studies by Alumni of Selected Warsaw-based Universities in the Last Hundred Years. A Contribution to the History of Historiography The article aims to review academic literature devoted to the Union of Brest and its followers, written between 1915 and 2022 by students and scholars associated with Warsaw. It includes major publications by alumni of universities and other higher education institutions in the capital of Poland, but also minor sketches (mostly unpublished) authored by Warsaw-based Greek Catholics. It explores the resurgence of scholarly interest in the Uniate question in the interwar period, its stagnation during the Polish People’s Republic, and its rekindling in the Third Polish Republic. It dwells on the realization that the authors’ viewpoint and the science policy of their employers – be it the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church or the Communist Party – was the determining factor in the works’ ideological skew. Another trend observed in the late 20th c. was that the religious affiliation of researchers and writers had lost its former significance mainly due to increasing privatization of religion.

The Impact of Adjacent Road on Vascular Plant Species Composition in Herbaceous Layers of Peucedano-Pinetum and Tilio-Carpinetum Urban Forests in the City of Warsaw (Poland)

The research was conducted in two types of urban forests: Peucedano-Pinetum and Tilio-Carpinetum. The aim of the study was to determine the differences in plant species compositions in the herbaceous layer of urban forests with different habitat fertility adjacent to the road in the northern part of Warsaw (Poland). Seven transects were laid out in each type of forest, with 10 plots spread out from the edge zone (forest border) to the interior of the forests. The size of each plot was 100 m2. The other seven transects were located within the forest, 150 to 200 m away from the forest’s edge. The field research included phytosociological relevés carried out on the existing transects. The indoor studies included an analysis of forest community disturbance. Furthermore, an analysis of abiotic environmental conditions using ecological indicator numbers was carried out. Ecotones of Peucedano-Pinetum are more likely to be colonized by the species inconsistent with the habitat due to processes that increase habitat fertility. The Tilio-Carpinetum forest is more easily colonized by invasive plant species than the Peucedano-Pinetum. The range of road effects can be determined as an area located within 90 m inward of the forest in the case of the Peucedano-Pinetum community and 100 m in the case of the Tilio-Carpinetum community. The presented research is important for formulating directions about how to manage the forests and their surroundings in terms of shaping forests of more natural character, with species more consistent with a forest habitat.

Destined for success. Story of people awarded the Orzeł Targówka award in 2010–2017

The article presents the results of research on the story of people awarded the Orzeł Targówka award in 2010–2017. In addition to the winners, the research also involved the parents of the award winners, teachers, principals of the schools attended by the winners and the Education Authorities of the Targówek district of the capital city of Warsaw. Conversations with the winners of the Orzeł Targówka award allowed us to draw their lifelines, highlighting the factors that contributed to further success, as well as those that did not. Additionally, conversations with the parents of the award winners, teachers, school principals and the Education Authorities of the Targówek district allowed us to expand our knowledge about the organised competition. It also made it possible to indicate recurring patterns in the winners’ lives and to designate a group of people for whom the Orzeł Targówka award was the only prize, as well as a group for whom it was the beginning of a further string of successes.Based on the analyses, attention was drawn to three important facts:I. Resignation from social contacts with peers for 2 years.II. Support from significant others.III. The problem of meeting expectations.The above relationships show the need to monitor the student's situation after receiving a significant award. It is also worth paying attention to understanding the meaning of awards and considering them as a life perspective, not as a one-time event. Awarding then has educational meaning if it prepares the student to follow the path to success.

The impact of transformations of the space of tenement houses on the architectural form of the building

The study examined transformations of tenement houses carried out by development companies conducting their investments in the city of Warsaw. The tenement houses that were originally erected in the second half of the 19th century or at the beginning of the 20th century and were renovated in the last 20 years, i.e. since 2003, were examined.&#x0D; The results of the study showed the existence of four main types of transformations that affect the architectural form of buildings: changing the function of the ground floor from residential to commercial, adaptation/reconstruction of attics for residential purposes, superstructures and transformations of courtyards. The impact of individual transformations on the architectural form of space is described. These changes have been illustrated with examples of Warsaw projects.

Typology of Localities in the Warsaw Metropolitan Area Resulting from the Spatial Development Structure

Urban sprawl in Poland has increased due to commune autonomy in spatial planning processes. Local authorities often implement planning measures based on their unit’s interests, overlooking long-term problems such as a lack of schools, kindergartens, commercial infrastructure, and traffic congestion. To address these issues, local governments should consider spatial planning and development projects alongside the development of necessary infrastructure. Many spatial planning methods delimit metropolitan areas based on existing built-up areas and urban corridors located along transport routes. This study analyzed the urban development of the Warsaw Metropolitan Area. Based on a study by the Office of Architecture and Spatial Planning of the Capital City of Warsaw, four urbanization zones of the WMA were delimited, focusing on the accessibility of infrastructure and the urban structure of settlements. At the same time, the population density of each village and each town was calculated, and the area of vacant land was counted. The study found 44 instances of locality types, grouped into four classes, representing peri-urban areas.

Threat or treat: Exposure assessment and risk characterisation of chemical contaminants in soft drinks and chocolate bars in various Polish population age groups.

In the frame of the European Food Risk Assessment (EU-FORA) fellowship programme, two studies on chemical contaminants in food matrices were carried out in Warsaw, Poland, at the Department of Food Safety and Chemical Analysis, Institute of Agricultural and Food Biotechnology. The first study addressed health concerns about the dietary exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) contamination due to consumption of soft drink by Polish population. BPA is an organic additive used in the production of epoxy resins and polycarbonate plastics and because of this it is used in the internal coating of cans and in plastic bottle production. Depending on several factors, BPA can migrate from these materials to the soft drink and so, it can be ingested by consumers causing hormonal and reproductive disorders. To estimate the Polish population exposure to BPA, several soft drinks belonging to different brands were purchased from a supermarket in the city of Warsaw and analysed. The result of the analysis highlight that mean BPA exposure in the Polish population exceeds the tolerable daily intake proposed by the EFSA scientific opinion, raising health concerns. On the other hand, the second study, focused on cadmium exposure due to chocolate consumption by Polish population, did not raise any health concern. Cadmium is a heavy metal that naturally occurs in its inorganic form in the environment and its presence in chocolate derives only from the cocoa beans and not from contamination during processing. Its accumulation in the human body can create several adverse effects, including renal dysfunction and failure. To estimate the Polish population exposure to cadmium, several chocolate bars were purchased from a supermarket in the city of Warsaw and analysed. The results of the analysis show that cadmium exposure in the Polish population does not exceed the tolerable weekly intake proposed by the EFSA scientific opinion.

Branding and place image on the example of the capital city of Warsaw

The image of a city is the ultimate product and is formed in the course of activities that are a process. A city wishing to achieve market success should strive to shape a positive image. In this aspect, it is necessary to regularly study the image of the perceived city. The identity and brand of the city play a fundamental role in this. The purpose of this article is to identify the image of Warsaw promoted by local authorities and the perceived image of the city among its residents. The thesis that has been verified is that there is no full correspondence between the image of Warsaw promoted by the local authorities and the image of the city in the consciousness of its residents. The article consists of three parts. The first discusses the concepts of identity, brand and image of the city. The second characterizes the brand of the capital city of Warsaw and its components. And in the third, the perceived image of the capital city of Warsaw is presented. Such research methods as literature studies, analysis of internal documentation of the Warsaw City Hall in the form of reports and reports in the area of image issues, analysis of source documents in the form of the city development strategy, analysis of reports and reports on promotional and image issues of cities in national and international dimensions, and deductive analysis were used. The considerations carried out showed allowed positive verification of the thesis. In addition, they showed that a positive image of a city is an important factor in its development.

A Bi-level model for district-fairness participatory budgeting: Decomposition methods and application

Participatory budgeting is one of the most well-known and widespread participatory programs implemented in many municipalities worldwide. Targeting poorer regions to receive a greater per capita amount of spending than wealthier regions is the most important transformational aspect of participatory budgeting. However, current approaches do not provide a precise method for achieving social justice through participatory budgeting. This paper proposes a bi-level mixed-integer non-linear optimization framework under the partial cooperation assumption to promote social justice in participatory budgeting programs. In addition, single-level reformulation and linearization techniques are presented, along with valid inequalities that speed up their resolution procedure. The single-level linear problem is solved using the Benders decomposition algorithm to find global optimality. To improve the computational performance of the proposed model on large-scale instances, a hierarchical iterative, evolutionary algorithm is proposed based on the hybrid binary particle swarm optimization and gravitational search algorithm. To illustrate the capability of the proposed model, computational experiments were conducted on both adapted examples from the literature and real-world, large-scale cases implemented in recent years in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The results show that the proposed model is significantly more efficient, affordable, and faster than other methods presented in the literature, such as the Greedy rule and ε-district-fair lottery. In addition, the proposed model is fully operational for real-world societal problems.

Młodzieżowa Rada m.st. Warszawy oraz młodzieżowe rady dzielnic m.st. Warszawy – przykład dwustopniowego systemu partycypacji w społeczeństwie obywatelskim młodzieży

Youth councils in local government units are among the tools for increasing civic participation of young people in their local communities. By acting in a youth council, a young person has a chance to influence his or her environment, gain experience in socio‑political activities, and meet similarly active people from all over Poland. There is great potential in the creation of such bodies, which, if exploited by local authorities, can significantly strengthen future civil society. This article presents the legal and actual framework for the operation of youth councils in Poland and discusses the 2021 amendment to the legislation in this area. It then presents an example of a two‑tier system of youth participation in civil society: the Youth Council of the City of Warsaw and the Youth District Councils in the same city. It presents examples of initiatives taken by the Youth Council of the Capital City of Warsaw and the Youth Council of the Śródmieście District of the Capital City of Warsaw within the last three years.