Polish Side Research Articles

Effect of Tooth Brushing With A Novel Dentifrice on Porcelain Roughness and Gloss

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a novel dentifrice (Diamynt, with fluoride, xylitol, herbal extracts, hydrated silica and diamond particles) on the surface roughness and gloss of two commercially available dental porcelains following simulated toothbrushing. Methods: Two commercially available porcelains (Vita VM13 and Ceramco 3) were used, as well as commercial finishing and polishing instruments (Dialite wheels). The porcelain samples were fabricated and polished by a professional dental laboratory with the same dimensions and polishing method. Roughness (Ra) was evaluated with a stylus profilometer (Federal PocketSurf). Gloss measurements were obtained by using a 60° small object glossmeter (Rhopoint NovoCurve Glossmeter). Following initial surface analysis of gloss and profilometry, the polished side of every sample was treated with a simulated toothbrushing technique previously published using a toothbrushing device (Sabri Dental V-8 Toothbrush Abrasion Machine). Diamynt and Arm & Hammer Whitening toothpaste were independently used to create a 50:50 w/w slurry with deionized water. Each surface was brushed 10,000 times. (Equivalent to 1 year toothbrushing) Then, the samples were rinsed with tap water and stored in 100% humidity until roughness and gloss values were obtained using the glossmeter and profilometer. Data was analyzed using two-tailed, unequal variance t-tests. Results: Diamynt toothpaste had no significant effect on surface roughness or gloss on either porcelain tested. Arm and Hammer had no effect on the surface roughness of either porcelain, but a significant effect (P<0.05) on surface gloss of Ceramco 3 porcelain. Conclusion: Effects of toothbrush abrasion was shown to be material and toothpaste dependent.

Management conflicts in the Vistula Lagoon area

The Vistula Lagoon is a transboundary water body, shared by Poland, an EU member state, and Russia. This fact hampers effective management of waters with respect to navigation, water quality, fisheries and tourism.The current state of communities living by the Vistula Lagoon is rather difficult. Economy of the southern part of the lagoon has been suffering persisting unemployment, the northern part performs better but not by using the lagoon but due to attractive Baltic Sea beaches along the Vistula Lagoon Spit, that draw numerous tourists during the summer season. Next, the entire Polish part of the Vistula Lagoon is under NATURA 2000 and Birds Directive. This poses great problems to fishermen and potential spatial development investors. Many investments are stopped or hampered by NATURA 2000 restrictions. Also, fishermen lose their fishing potential on behalf of very large population of cormorants who can eat more fish than fishermen catch. Laws and regulations are not adjusted to the existing situation and lead to overuse of fish stocks or destruction of fish spawning areas.Given the transboundary dimension of the Vistula Lagoon it became a case study for investigations of the FP7 LAGOONS project. It includes a socio-economic workpackage, aimed at identification of management problems raised by various stakeholders and end-users of the lagoon. For this purpose a series of interviews was carried out with representatives of local communities living and working on the Polish side of the Vistula Lagoon. The purpose of those interviews was to identify problems and conflicts concerning local environment, management of the area and legislation from the perspective of ‘ordinary’ people. Unfortunately, similar interviews on the Russian side of the lagoon were not executed, due to general financial constraints faced by non-EU partners participating in the FP7 EU program project.The respondents highlighted several key problems that prevent prosperity and sustainability of the lagoon and add to persisting relative poverty of the region. Primarily, they pointed out to bad quality of water in the lagoon, despite recent improvements in terms of erection of many new waste water treatment plants. Then, they indicated poor touristic and harbor infrastructure on both the northern and southern parts of the lagoon. Next, they signaled bureaucratic difficulties related to ecological restrictions imposed by NATURA 2000 requirements. This included the strain on the fishing sector by very large colony of cormorants. Finally, they discussed the problem of free navigation and access to the lagoon by Polish and non-Russian vessels. Nevertheless, the respondents believe that the lagoon possesses high economic potential, which must be harnessed to begin region's economic recovery and first steps toward sustainable development.

Possibilities of Increasing Territorial Coverage and Operational Performance of the Tatra Electric Railways

In the context of requirement of environmental protection in the Tatra National Park (TANAP) and the territorial coverage solution primarily with ecological railway transport becomes current demand of extending the current network of Tatra Electric Railways (TER) and possibly to connect Slovak and Polish side of the mountains. The basic prerequisite for a functional, safe and attractive operation of the Tatra Electric Railways is modernization of existing lines, because current state causes not only high maintenance costs, but also significantly reduces the speed, safety, reliability and operational efficiency. The paper suggests ways to reconstruct the existing network and upgrade it to achieve the required technical parameters in case of attractiveness of rail transport in the High Tatras.

Rabacja chłopska 1846 roku w relacji ks. Jana Popławskiego z Niegowici

Ocena wydarzeń z 1846 roku była różna w ocenie urzędowej austriackiej i patriotycznej polskiej. Według tej pierwszej wersji rzeź galicyjska była odruchem wierności włościan wobec monarchii austriackiej, potępiającym próbę powstania przeciw cesarzowi. Z polskiej strony rabację potraktowano jako skutek świadomej prowokacji dokonanej przez biurokrację austriacką, trafiającej na podatny grunt niechęci pańszczyźnianych chłopów wobec szlachty. Rabacja położyła kres przygotowaniom do narodowego powstania. Rozprzestrzeniła się w zachodniej Galicji, głównie w okolicach Tarnowa, Bochni i Jasła. Tzw. „krwawe zapusty” rozpoczęte ok. 19 lutego 1846 roku pochłonęły wiele ofiar. Chłopi napadali na dwory i plebanie w poszukiwaniu powstańców i broni, bili i mordowali dziedziców i ich oficjalistów, demolowali budynki, rabowali wyposażenie dworów i zabudowań gospodarczych.Z tego okresu zachowały się relacje i wspomnienia, wśród nich relacja ks. Jana Popławskiego (1800–1892), ówczesnego proboszcza w Niegowici. Swoje wspomnienia spisał w 1857 roku, dla rodziny. Ich oryginał znajduje się w Bibliotece Naukowej PAU i PAN w Krakowie, podarowany w 1925 roku przez Seweryna Udzielę. Wspomnienia ks. Popławskiego z 22–24 lutego 1846 roku obejmują tylko 3 dni rabacji, mimo to są cenne jako kronikarski zapis wydarzeń w Niegowici i najbliższej okolicy. Zawierają też osobiste odczucia i komentarze autora wspomnień.

Witness sample preparation for measuring antireflection coatings

Measurement of antireflection coating of witness samples from across the worldwide industry has been shown to have excess variability from a sampling taken for the OSA Topical Meeting on Optical Interference Coatings: Measurement Problem. Various sample preparation techniques have been discussed with their limitations, and a preferred technique is recommended with its justification, calibration procedures, and limitations. The common practice of grinding the second side to reduce its reflection is less than satisfactory. One recommended practice is to paint the polished second side, which reduces its reflection to almost zero. A method to evaluate the suitability of given paints is also described.

Oxygen Isotope Transport Properties of Yttria‐Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) in O2‐ and H2O‐Containing Atmospheres

AbstractOxygen isotope exchange experiments, H218O/H216O (”wet” anneals) and 18O2/16O2 (”dry” anneals), were performed on single crystal samples of yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ) at a temperature of T = 1073 K with subsequent determination of the oxygen isotope profiles in the solid by time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS). Such experiments yielded oxygen tracer diffusion coefficients (D*) and oxygen tracer surface exchange coefficients (k*), from both the polished (smooth) and unpolished (rough) sides of single crystal samples, as a function of water partial pressure pH2O and oxygen partial pressure pO2. Isothermal values of D* were found to depend on neither pO2 nor pH2O (nor surface roughness). Isothermal values of k*, in contrast, displayed a strong dependence on pO2 or pH2O; k*wet was, in addition, 2–3 orders of magnitude higher than k*dry. Surprisingly, surface roughness had little effect on k*wet, whereas rough surfaces exhibited much higher k*dry values than smooth surfaces. Data for k*wet obtained as a function of temperature at pH2O = 18 mbar show a change in activation enthalpy at T ≈ 973 K. The behavior of k* is discussed in terms of surface composition, surface area and surface reaction mechanisms.

Experimental demonstration of lossy mode resonance generation for transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric polarizations

This Letter, presents the fabrication of lossy mode resonance (LMR) devices based on titanium dioxide (TiO2)/ poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) coatings deposited on side-polished D-shaped optical fibers. TiO2 thin films have been obtained by means of the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique. LbL enables us to produce smooth and homogeneous coatings on the polished side of the fiber. This permits us to couple light from the waveguide to the TiO2-coating/external medium region at specific wavelength ranges. The generation of LMRs depends on the coating thickness, so that thicker coatings can produce more resonances. LMRs are sensitive to the external medium refractive index, which allows its utilization as refractometers. The characteristic D-shaped architecture of the devices employed in this Letter enables us to distinguish TE and TM polarizations, which had not been possible before with regular optical fibers due to their cylindrical symmetry. The results presented here show for the first time the experimental demonstration of the generation of LMRs produced by both TM and TE polarizations. More specifically, for these TiO2/PSS thin films, the TM and TM modes of the LMRs show a wavelength shift of 226 nm for the first-order LMR and 56 nm for the second-order LMR.

Human interactions with the sandstone landscape of central Sudetes

The paper examines the history of human interactions with the specific plateau and cuesta morphology developed upon Cretaceous sedimentary sequences in the Middle Sudetes, Central Europe (Poland, Czech Republic). Lithological contrasts influence relief at regional and local scale, providing diverse opportunities and limits to human activities since medieval times until the present. As a result a complex cultural landscape underpinned by geomorphology evolved through time, illustrating the concept of ‘sandstone phenomenon’. The following interactions with the physical landscape are identified: avoidance, adaptation, modification, and withdrawal. Although early modifications occurred in the late medieval period, adaptation rather than direct human impact typified the area until the mid-18th century. The expansion of settlement network in later times, along with forest clearance, development of quarrying and growth of tourism have led to substantial modifications of the geomorphological landscape and the origin of a suite of anthropic landforms. Depopulation of the region, particularly on the now Polish side, amplified after World War II, resulted in land use changes and renaturalization of many areas. Many previously occupied areas have been abandoned and various forms of nature and landscape protection now provide limitations to further development. Modification is tightly controlled, while re-adaptation is preferred and promoted, driven not by physical constraints anymore but by changing attitudes and increasing environmental awareness.

Pierwsza wizyta Bruno Kreisky’ego w Polsce w dniach 1–3 marca 1960 roku w świetle dokumentów Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych

Following World War II, Polish-Austrian relations developed in a climate of mutual interest and political support. Despite finding themselves on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War era, the communist People’s Republic of Poland (PRP) and the Republic of Austria worked for bilateral recognition and opportunities for trading collaboration from 1945 onward. During the early phase of post-1945 Polish-Austrian relations, occasional state visits were made by the highest echelons. The first such event occurred from 1st to 3rd March 1960, when the then Austrian Foreign Minister, Bruno Kreisky, visited Warsaw. On the Polish side, preparations for the minister’s visit were made with extraordinary care. Among the circle of Western states, sui generis breakthroughs which would offer the chance of instigating the economic and political exchange so essential to a new people’s democracy were being sought. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archive holds materials giving detailed descriptions of the preparations for, and the course of, the first visit made to Poland by the highest of Austrian echelons. In a document entitled Points for the Talks, we read that the Polish government did not exclude the possibility of cooperation with Western states, including those which belonged to NATO, as well as of its desire to be appropriately prepared for that collaboration. In the minds of Polish diplomats, the Republic of Austria was to help in breaking the political isolation which afflicted the PRP.

The Activities of Fr Friedrich Muckermann in 1918–1919 in Vilnius: A Significant Application Towards a Civil Society? (The Phenomenon of the Christian Workers League)

The activities of the German priest Friedrich Muckermann in Vilnius would belong to those cases when an extraordinary personality influenced crucially the development of the public process, by rallying an abundant crowd of followers. The assumptions of the social activities initiated by this Jesuit priest consisted of the transformation of the Catholic Church at the beginning of the 20th century from a confessional to a social category, and the conditioned general operation of the latter phenomenon. At the turn of 1918–1919 in Vilnius, due to the efforts of Muckermann, the League of Christian Workers appeared and gained more and more popularity in lower social strata. This seriously worried the Bolshevik government. Activists of the national movements conflicting with each other, in turn, understanding the prospects for the cultural-social consolidation begun by the priest to become political, naturally sought to influence the League. The arrest of Muckermann by the Bolsheviks not only encouraged a shift by the League to the Polish side, but also changed the nature of the organisation in the direction of radical action. Members of the League contributed actively to the capture of Vilnius by the Polish army in April 1919. And from that time, the organisation can be considered to be Polish, which in no way could be said about the League run by Muckermann. Leaving Bolshevik captivity at the end of 1919 in an exceptional way, he became not only a famous Catholic activist in interwar Germany, but also a symbol of the Christian resistance to Nazism.

Sytuacja na wschodnim pograniczu Polski w świetle raportu kontrwywiadowczego Korpusu Ochrony Pogranicza za 1936 rok

In 2002, the counterintelligence reports of the Intelligence Border Protection Corps – formation set up to protect – generally speaking – the eastern Polish border, were declassified. The most important neighbor on this part of Second Polish Republic was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Therefore, the selection has been conducted so as to choose the most important parts of the report relating to specific border authority in this section is the so-called Polish-Soviet zone. In addition to statistical data, forms and methods of intelligence work, dislocation of KOP Intelligence units was analyzed. The article contains topics on the Polish side, and the most important characteristic of specific elements of the work of the then Soviet intelligence. The subject was realized on a basis of the report relating to the 1936.

Protection of the Cultural Heritage in the Polish, Czech and German Borderland as Educational Challenge

The article is focused on the attitudes of inhabitants of the Polish-German-Czech borderland towards the cultural landscape of the region. Given the historical, legal and administrative or mental determinants, an attempt was made to characterise the formation of the climate of these lands and to show the attitude of the current inhabitants (particularly on the Polish side of the borderlands) towards the cultural heritage of Upper Lusatia. This article also addresses the topic of the need to continue the existing efforts and initiate new ones, indicating their educational dimension. The joint Polish-Czech-German programmes aim to support the preservation of the historic architecture by increasing awareness of its direct users, as well as by competently improving its technical condition.

Faunistic spider collections in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin: The collection of Erich Hesse

doi: 10.5431/aramit4409 Abstract: The 'Hesse collection' of spiders (Araneae) and harvestmen (Opiliones) in the Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin is documented. Biographical notes on Erich Hesse - a former arachnid curator at the museum (1921-1940) - are provided. The 'Hesse collection' was actually put together by other workers, and can be broadly divided into two parts. One comes from Bielinek (= Bellinchen) on the Polish side of the Oder Valley (West Pommerania); now part of the 'Unteres Odertal' National Park. This Bielinek material includes notable records of Heriaeus oblongus Simon, 1918 and Gibbaranea ullrichi (Hahn, 1835). The other part of the collection comes from Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Notable here are Pistius truncatus (Pallas, 1772) and Philodromus buchari Kubcova, 2004; the latter representing the first record of this species for Saxony-Anhalt. The arachnological section of the Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin houses a number of, primarily regional, 'special collections' (Sondersammlungen) which are not integrated into the main systematic collection due to their focus on a particular set of localities and/or individuals. These may prove to be of some value for, e.g., regional faunistic studies, and as part of what we hope will be a series of papers documenting these special collections, we begin by focusing on material assembled by the former Berlin curator, Erich Hesse. These specimens were collected during the 1930s from Bielinek in western Poland and Colbitz-Letzlinger Heide in the state of Saxony- Anhalt in Germany.

Beam Divergence and Thermal Transient Characteristics of InGaN/GaN Light Emitting Diodes with Rear Side Grown ZnO Nanorods

We report the enhanced light output power of InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with ZnO nanorods grown on the polished rear side of the sapphire substrate. ZnO seeds were spin coated on the polished bottom side of the sapphire substrate and a simple solution technique was employed to grow ZnO nanorods. Results reveal that the rear side grown ZnO nanorods enhance the light output power of the GaN LEDs significantly due to the light wave guiding and reflectivity of ZnO nanorods. The light output power from the GaN LED with rear side grown ZnO nanorods was 15% higher than that of a conventional LED. Thermal conductivity characteristics showed that GaN LEDs with ZnO nanorods possess low thermal resistance (25.1 °C/W) compared to the conventional LEDs (40.5 °C/W) because of high thermal conductivity of ZnO nanorods.

Dwie dekady stosunków Polski z Litwą – wymiar polityczny

Lithuania was among the first republics of the disintegrating Soviet Union to announce its declaration of independence, and in September 1991 established diplomatic relations with Poland. In January 1992, both countries signed a joint declaration, and in April 1994 they signed the Treaty on friendly relations and good neighborly cooperation. Over the next 10 years, ways of achieving foreign policy objectives shared by both countries were sought and eventually worked out. Mutual support in pursuit of becoming a member of NATO and of the European Union was visible, which eventually turned into profound relations that were referred to as a strategic partnership. A network of cooperation was formed. It included deep political contacts at all levels and the paying of first foreign visits after being sworn in, which on the Polish side was initiated in 1996 by President A. Kwaśniewski, has become a symbol. Both countries have undertaken joint initiatives to improve energy security and military cooperation, and conduct cross-border and interregional cooperation. The end of the second decade of the two countries’ relations showed, however, that unresolved problems, mainly related to the status of the Polish minority in Lithuania, have been increasingly influencing the policy of steadily building good neighborly relations between Warsaw and Vilnius.

Morphometric analysis of glacial landforms in the Northern part of the Slovak High Tatra Mountains

The High Tatra Mountains were glaciated during the European Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), dating back to 20 000 BP. Several studies (e.g. Midriak, 1983; Lindner et al. , 2003) showed that all the main valleys, on both Slovak and Polish sides, were glaciated. We can identify glacial landforms typical of a high mountain environment: glacial cirques, complex cirques, troughs, and depositional zones. These form segments of a cascade system where ice accumulated in the upper parts (cirques) and flowed down-valley. Cirque morphometric characteristics (e.g. width, length, altitude, azimuth) were measured in GIS on the basis of the geomorphological map of Luknis (1973)

Anthropogenic Effects on Coastal Sediment Fluxes in a Nontidal Gulf System

AbstractThis paper presents the results of studies of the physical processes observed in the coastal zone of the eastern part of the Gulf of Gdansk, from the Vistula river mouth (Poland) to Cape Taran (Russia, Kaliningrad Oblast), because it is under severe environmental and anthropogenic pressure. We present investigations of wind climate, wind-driven currents, deep-water waves, nearshore sediment fluxes, engineering activities, and shoreline changes/response at eight study sites selected along the coast of the study area. Four of the sites are located on the Polish side and four on the Russian side of the state border. An assessment of the anthropogenic impact on coastal litho- and morphodynamics (local sediment fluxes and shoreline response) as a function of different local hydrodynamic climates is performed. Key coastal locations in the Gulf (the Vistula river mouth, the Baltijsk Strait with the harbor of Baltijsk, and the mining plants near Jantarnyj), where natural sediment morphological processes h...

Four-Wire Resistance Measurements of a Bismuth Nanowire Encased in a Quartz Template Utilizing Focused Ion Beam Processing

Four-wire resistance measurements were performed using a bismuth nanowire, 750 nm in diameter, 1.96 mm in length, and encapsulated in a quartz template. One side of the quartz template was polished to allow focused ion beam (FIB) processing, and metal film layers were deposited on the polished side to form electrodes. Nanofabrication was employed to remove a selected portion of the quartz, and FIB processing was used to expose the surface of the bismuth nanowire. A local area of the bismuth wire was successfully exposed, and a carbon electrode was deposited on the bismuth wire in situ by a chemical reaction between the ion beam and phenanthrene gas. Additional carbon deposition on the initial carbon electrode was used to connect to a metal film on the quartz template. In total, four nanofabrications were performed on the bismuth wire to create the desired electrical contacts. The resistivity of the nanowire was measured by a four-wire method to be 1.29 μΩ m at 300 K, corresponding to that of bulk bismuth. The temperature dependence of the resistivity was also measured, and was qualitatively and quantitatively in good agreement with previous calculated and experimental results using other bismuth nanowires. The present results demonstrate the successful development of a technique to fabricate an electrode on a local area of a nanowire using FIB processing to form suitable electrical contacts.

Przemiany demograficzne na pograniczu polsko-białoruskim

This article aims to show the demographic change, with particular emphasis on the natural movement of population and migration, which occurred at the beginning of the twenty-first century in the Polish-Belarusian borderland, in the Lubelskie and Podlaskie Voivodships as well as in Grodno and Brest Circuits. Due to the availability of statistical data detailed analysis of changes in the natural movement of population covers the years 2000–2009, and 2000–2007 for migration. The analysis e. a. shows, that both the Polish and Belarusian part of the border are of depopulation character, but demographic processes on the Belarusian side have a more rapid process than on the Polish side.

Partnerstwo Wschodnie jako ukoronowanie polskich starań o utworzenie Wschodniego Wymiaru UE

The aim of the article is to analyse Polish aspirations to create Eastern Dimension of the EU, which has finally succeed in May 2009, when the Eastern Partnership was inaugurated. The author presents Polish proposals addressed to Brussels between 1998 and 2008 (The Eastern policy of the European Union in the enlargement perspective – Polish side of view 2001; non-paper Wider Europe 2003; The New Neighbours – a framework for relations. Proposals from Poland 2003; The Neighbourhood Instrument – the Polish standpoint 2003; the European Neighbourhood Policy – Eastern Dimension 2006; Polish-Swedish Proposal. Eastern Partnership 2008). Then, compares its content with actual solutions adopted by the European Union in a form of the European Commission Communications (Wider Europe III 2003; European Neighbourhood Policy V 2004; Commission proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument X 2004; On strengthening the European Neighbourhood Policy XII 2006; A Strong European Neighbourhood Policy XII 2007; Eastern Partnership XII 2008).