Polish Project Research Articles

POSITIVE EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES AS A DETERMINANT OF PROJECT SUCCESSS AND BUSINESS EXCELLENCE: THE CASE OF POLAND

Purpose: The paper reports the importance of positive employee attitudes such as work engagement and job satisfaction for project success and business excellence. It is based on two different research projects. The first one, conducted in 2007, entitled “Self-assessment in quality management systems of companies”, was concerned with the engagement of Polish enterprises in initiatives aiming at business excellence. The second study called “Project management efficiency in the enterprises operating in Poland”, completed in July 2008, dealt with the identification of project success factors. Methodology: EFQM Excellence Model indicators were used as the evaluation criteria for the first study. A structured questionnaire built upon them was distributed among the most active companies in the Polish economy. The research sample PL2007 numbered 230 companies was collected as a result of the study. The second research resulted in the sample PL2008 mostly formed on the basis of the member list of the Polish Project Management Association. In total, 70 respondents filled out the questionnaire which made it possible to identify the project success factors. Findings: The results coming from the 2007 study indicate that the key factors influencing examined firms’ performance are related to people and their satisfaction. At the same time they are the most critical factors for business excellence improvement. The results of the research project carried out in 2008 show that among a few dozen of tested factors which are conducive to successful realization of projects, the most significant ones are again those referring to people, especially to their engagement. Originality/value: The paper combines the research results generated in two different studies conducted in companies operating in Poland, the first one focused on business excellence indicators and the second one concentrated on project success factors. Presented data make it possible to indicate how strongly performance on both the operational (project) level and the strategic (business) level is influenced by employee attitudes.

The Soviet Bloc's Answer to European Integration: Catholic Anti-Germanism and the Polish Project of a ‘Catholic-Socialist’ International

AbstractThis article explores an attempt by one Polish organisation – known until 1952 by the name of its weekly journal Dziś i Jutro, thereafter as PAX – to assemble a ‘Catholic-socialist’ international in the decade following the Second World War. This transnational project was predicated on co-operation across the Iron Curtain by Catholic thinkers and activists opposed to the rearmament and incorporation of (West) Germany into an integrated European community. The project's author Wojciech Kętrzyński deployed a discourse of protecting the ‘human person’ based on the prioritisation of global peace. Polish encounters with francophone Catholic activists from across Western Europe – especially with the French journal Esprit – bred serious intellectual engagement across the Iron Curtain at the level of Catholic philosophy and theology. Paradoxically, however, these activists accepted that the dignity of the human person would be best served by transnational anti-Germanism, at the price of complicity with – or outright participation in – Stalinism. The self-styled Catholic-socialist project thus failed, yet, surprisingly, it failed neither immediately nor completely. It thus reveals that possibilities existed throughout the cold war – even at the height of Soviet-bloc Stalinism – for intellectual, cultural and political exchanges and partnerships across the Iron Curtain.

Archeologia pradziejowa wschodniego Śródziemnomorza na Uniwersytecie im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu

The paper aims at presenting research activities of prehistoric archaeologists from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in the Eastern Mediterranean. In particular, it focuses on presenting objectives and results of ongoing works at the Neolithic settlement in Çatalhöyük in Central Anatolia. The Polish project, which is an intrinsic element of the Çatalhöyük Research Project, began in 2001 in cooperation with the Polish Academy of Sciences and later University of Gdańsk. It continues currently as the Adam Mickiewicz University project. The works involve excavating the uppermost levels of the settlement occupation dated back to the end of the seventh millennium cal. BC, which have not been investigated to date. The discovered architecture and material objects are unique in nature indicating remarkable transformations in all aspects of the long-lasted Neolithic tradition. The results have been published and presented in numerous national and international settings. They also led to establishing a close collaboration with numerous leading centres of the Anatolian and Near Eastern Neolithic studies. The project at Çatalhöyük comprises an active participation of students leading to completion of numerous Bachelor, Master and Doctorate dissertations.

Annotation tools for syntax and named entities in the National Corpus of Polish

The ongoing National Corpus of Polish project assumes several levels of linguistic annotation. We present the technical environment and methodological background developed for the three upper annotation levels: the levels of syntactic words, syntactic groups and named entities. We show how knowledge-based platforms Spejd and Sprout are used for the automatic pre-annotation of the corpus and discuss some particular problems faced during the preparation of the parser grammar, which contains over 1,000 rules and is one of the largest chunking grammars for Polish. We also show how the tree editor TrEd has been customised for manual post-editing of annotations and for further revision of discrepancies. Our XML format converters and customised archiving repository ensure an automatic data flow and efficient corpus file management. We discuss the inter-annotator agreement in the manually annotated data, and present the first results of a CRF classifier trained on these data.

State of the art in medical robotics in Poland: development of the Robin Heart and other robots

The first Polish project in medical robotics began in 2000. Now, a decade later, the Robin Heart surgical telemanipulator has the potential to become widely used in many branches of surgery. The original robot and mechatronic tools have successfully completed the required laboratory tests and animal studies. The Foundation of Cardiac Surgery Development in Zabrze, Poland, has launched a series of large-scale educational and awareness-raising activities aiming to promote medical robotics in Poland. At present, works on a rehabilitation robot are in progress in two centers. This article is an attempt to summarize the advances in medical robotics in Poland, to present the most interesting achievements to date and to discuss the prospects for further development.

New Lightning Detection Networks in Poland – LINET and LLDN

Lightning detection in Poland is performed by means of a PERUN (Safir 3000) system operated by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Poland is also partly covered by a VLF/LF lightning detection system (CLDN, Central Lightning Detection Network). Both sources of lightning data have their limitations resulting from detection technique, limited number of sensors and geographical configuration, with the consequence of shortcomings in the data quality. For this reason, a new network has been installed in Poland and started continuous real-time operation in May 2006. It is LINET that covers entire Poland and is complemented by numerous sensors positioned in surrounding countries. In 2007 additional LINET sensors have been installed in Poland in order to allow exploitation of reduced baselines for efficient achievement of total lightning. In the frame of the COST P18 Action “Physics of Lightning Flash and Its Effects” another new Polish project started in 2006 related to regional lightning location. At present, the Local Lightning Detection Network (LLDN) undergoes installation in the region of Warsaw. LLDN will consist of six individual stations equipped with E-field antennae and digital recorders synchronized with GPS time signals. The aim of LLDN installation is complement other networks covering region of Warsaw (PERUN, LINET) and to provide an additional source of lightning CG data with high sensitivity in a relatively small area. In the paper are described general characteristics of LINET in Poland, as well as basic characteristics and assumed performance of LLDN, which will start operation in 2008.

Evaluation of the technical status of radiotherapy simulators involved in clinical trials

Summary Background Radiotherapy simulators play an important role in the preparation of radiation treatment. Their mechanical and geometrical parameters have to be identical with those of the treatment machines. Therefore, quality control protocols for the simulators should be comprehensive and the tolerance limits as high as those for treatment machines. Aim Evaluation of the technical status of radiotherapy simulators involved in clinical trials. Materials/Methods In this paper, results of quality control tests conducted in 12 Polish radiotherapy centres are presented. The tests were carried out within the framework of Polish research project KBN No. 6 P05C 032 20. 12 radiotherapy simulators installed in Polish radiotherapy centres were thoroughly tested. In order to control technical conditions of the simulators, a set of 24 tests was elaborated. The tests were divided into six thematic groups. The detailed range of the parameters controlled and the accepted ranges of tolerance limits are given. The values of tolerance limits are based on data found in the available literature. Results The control of 12 simulators revealed the violation of accepted tolerance limits for 13 out of 24 controlled parameters. The most frequent violations of accepted tolerance limits occurred in the case of geometrical parameters of light simulation and mechanical parameters of the couch, both very important for the accuracy of the simulation process. For 2 simulators almost 30% of controlled parameters were outside the tolerance limits. Conclusions The control of radiotherapy simulators undertaken within the framework of the clinical trial revealed that in the majority of cases the simulators were in good technical condition. In 2 cases almost 30% of controlled parameters were outside the tolerance limits. In such cases the manufacturers' service should be called urgently for necessary repairs and regulations. After repeated quality control tests a decision should be taken regarding the accepted range of operations which could be used in clinical practice. A QA and QC system for radiotherapy simulators should be introduced in each radiotherapy centre.

Polish cardio-robot ‘Robin Heart’. System description and technical evaluation

This paper presents the mechanical structure and control system of the Polish cardio-robot Robin Heart (RIH). The Polish project with cardiac surgery robots started in 2000. It was supported by the team from the Foundation of Cardiac Surgery Development, Zabrze, in cooperation with research centers in Lodz and Warsaw. So far three prototypes, RH0, 1 & 2, of the Robin Heart robots family have been designed, constructed and tested. In addition many diagnostic systems have been constructed to aid with the assessment of robot performance. The main focus of this article examines the technical evaluation of our prototypes, based on laboratory test results of both the mechanical and control aspects of the telemanipulator systems. The presented test results of both mechanical and electrical aspects of Robin Heart telemanipulator systems, show significant progress both in a mechanical and control viewpoint, along with an improvement in the characterisation of the test parameters.

Proposal of Polish Guidelines for Conducting Financial Analysis and Their Comparison to Existing Guidance on Budget Impact in Other Countries

Background Financial analysis (budget impact analysis, BIA) is increasingly required by decision-makers to ascertain the macroeconomic consequences of new product reimbursement in addition to proof of cost-effectiveness. Poland is in the process of drafting country-specific guidelines for BIA, positioned as complementary to economic evaluation in decision-making Objectives The aim of this article is to present the Polish project and compare it with currently available guidance. Methods A checklist was developed that focuses on issues that are unique to BIA. An analysis of the differences between different national guidelines and their Polish counterparts was subsequently undertaken. Results The Polish project of BIA guidelines is composed of two sections. The first section presents the objective, the use of BIA, the responsibility for the preparation, and the target audience. The second section presents important methodological aspects that researchers should keep in mind when carrying out BIA. In comparison to existing guidance the Polish project appears to be more detailed. It includes more precise recommendations on perspective, time horizon, and reliability of data sources; reporting of results; rates of adoption of new therapies; and the probability of redeploying resources. Conclusions Although there is an increased demand for BIA, there is only limited guidance on how such studies should be undertaken. It is hoped that the Polish guidelines can contribute to the development of such analyses and deliver benefit for Polish health-care decision-makers and beyond.

Не-Империя: Великое Княжество Литовское в Польской Исторической Памяти

SUMMARY: Hieronim Grala proves the concept, that Rzech Pospolita and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) were a unique non-imperial model of association of the different peoples, religions, political formations. The main consolidating forces were the freedom of aristocracy. It had attractive force, which rallied ethnic elites around of the king. The cultural influence of Poland to GDL was extraordinary great, and also was the factor of association. The role of an image of GDL as parts of the Polish national project of the19 th – 20 th centuries consists in romantic memoirs about the ancient greatness of the incorporated state. But it is more important cultural, than political contents of the Polish historical memory about GDL for the Polish project.

The preplanning and advisory system for Robin heart-polish telemanipulator for cardiac minimal invasive surgery

Project of Polish cardiac surgery robot, which is run by Foundation of Cardiac Surgery Development in Zabrze, Poland, in cooperation with scientific centres in Lodz and Warsaw, assumes the development of surgery planning system and introduction of advisory systems for physicians. This work presents the state of art of polish project.

Comparison of ten friesian strains in poland under field conditions. I. Strain comparison for growth rate

In the Polish project, aimed at comparing the genetic value for milk and meat production of 10 Friesian strains, the following countries have participated: the U.S.A., Canada, Denmark, Great Britain, Sweden, the Federal Republic of Germany, The Netherlands, Israel, New Zealand and Poland. Semen from 388 young, unproven AI bulls was used to inseminate Polish Friesian cows in 70 state-owned commercial herds. The relationship among bulls used in the project is presented. The AI results as well as involuntary losses of calves and young stock are described. In total, 24 846 F 1 and 5353 R 1 (backcross) calves were born alive. The results provide evidence on the variation in growth among strains. The Holstein strains (American, Canadian and Israeli) were generally the fastest and Friesian (European and New Zealand) strains grew more slowly. Among the European strains, the German was outstanding, being closely related to American Holsteins. In semi-intensive feeding conditions, the extreme strain differences were small, amounting to 3–6% in liveweight and 4–5% in daily gain. The crossbreds from Holstein sires differed in type compared to other strains. They were higher in the withers and deeper in the chest.

The Foreign Background: A Polish Project

The Foreign Background: A Polish Project