In the contemporary world, natural gas is one of the focuses of hybrid wars and is used as a tool of international economic and political pressure to gain appropriate benefits. The long-term pressure of Russia on Ukraine using a combination of military, political, economic, information and energy tools is one of the most striking cases of applying natural gas as a weapon in a hybrid war. Exploring the case of Ukraine, the authors confirmed the hypothesis about the change in the impact of the prices of natural gas on the performance of its industrial consumers during a hybrid war. The study covered three industrial sectors that are major consumers of natural gas – the metallurgy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The data of nine key companies of these industries for the period 2006–2019 were analyzed; this period was divided into two parts – before the hybrid war (2006–2013) and during it (2014–2019). The authors identified the heterogeneity of the influence of natural gas prices on the performance of different industrial enterprises. However, since the onset of the hybrid war, all of them have shown a reducing correlation of natural gas prices with all the analyzed performance indicators – operating profitability, material-output ratio, and labor productivity. The study managed to build reliable regression models that allow defining the prices of natural gas for the chemical industry and metallurgy, above which these industries in Ukraine become unprofitable. The defined critical levels have a practical implication since they can be tools for regulating natural gas prices for various industrial sectors.

Artykuł zawiera analizę jednego z kierunków przemian praktyk autobiograficznych prowadzonych w Internecie, czyli spadek znaczenia utrwalania i archiwizowania treści autobiograficznych, który następuje wraz ze wzrostem popularności przekazów efemerycznych, na przykład wiadomości usuwanych automatycznie po jednokrotnym wyświetleniu. Wskazany kierunek przemian praktyk autobiograficznych w środowisku sieciowym zilustrowano przykładami takich formatów, jak internetowe strony domowe, blogi, platforma społecznościowa Facebook czy aplikacja Snapchat. Przedstawiono kolejne stadia procesu ewolucji praktyk autobiograficznych online, jednak należy nadmienić, że proces ten ma charakter ciągły i jego poszczególne etapy się przenikają. Zarysowany kierunek przemian praktyk autobiograficznych w internecie jest w niniejszym artykule analizowany w odniesieniu do procesualnej teorii mediów i koncepcji zwrotu efemerycznego.

In recent years, the Australian government has changed course with regard to the gradual replacement of the country’s energy supply by traditional energy resources to alternative renewable energy sources to preserve the environment. The research relevance is predefined by the need to introduce the latest technology and to find investors for the further development of the state energy sector. In this regard, the research to reveal the current state of the energy sector in Australia, the study of existing projects, their productivity, and their impact on the environment. The main methods of research are the method of analysis of existing publications describing the current state of the energy sector as well as the method of comparing the country’s energy performance before and after the implementation of relevant reforms to better illustrate the effectiveness of existing projects. As a result, it was determined that the Australian government pursues a policy of carbon neutrality in the energy industry to reduce the harm caused to nature by harmful emissions into the atmosphere. The state has a focus on reducing the cost of electricity. It is also determined that Australia has a positive attitude toward foreign investment and is open to proposals for new technologies that improve the efficiency and security of the energy supply. The research mentions Australia’s main trading partners, their joint projects, and enterprises. The main directions of alternative energy currently used, their advantages, and their disadvantages are identified. The research result may be of practical value for investors in the field of renewable energy sources in order to better understand the energy market in Australia and possible prospects, as well as for all interested parties.

Bioleaching research considers both the bio- and anthroposphere in the search for novel ways to recover resources and elements, which is important to the concept of sustainable development. Since the efficient, cost-effective and simple recovery of resources is of increasing importance in the circular economy model, the bioleaching of metals is a method currently gaining interest. The process is also of importance considering the need for the neutralization of waste materials/resources that allow for their safe storage and use. In this study, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans bacteria, which is commonly found and widely utilized in the bioleaching process due to its high tolerance to heavy metals, was used in a twenty-eight-day experiment. The manner in which bacteria inhabit incineration residues was observed using fluorescence optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The concentration of elements in incineration residues and in the post-reaction solutions was measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and the efficiency of element recovery was calculated based on the results. Municipal waste incineration bottom ash and sewage sludge incineration fly ash were considered in the experiment. The extraction rates were far from satisfactory, with the average 20 and 50% for bottom ash and sewage sludge ash, respectively. The obtained results were consistent with microscopic observations where the relative number of bacteria increased only slightly over time in the sewage-sludge fly ash and was barely observed in the bottom ash of municipal- -waste incineration.

The paper presents the most overall project of Hungarian dialectology of the past few decades and deals with the partial result of its sociolinguistic survey. The interviews analysed were recorded in Western Hungary as part of the New General Atlas of Hungarian Dialects project between 2007 and 2012. The project, funded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and organized by the Geolinguistics Research Group of the Eötvös Loránd University, asked the participants about sociolinguistic issues at several data collection sites in the Hungarian language area, in addition to surveying dialectological phenomena. For example: Do you speak dialects here in this town? Do they speak better here than in the neighboring settlements? Do you speak in the same way in a city or official place as at home, in a family circle? Have you ever been mocked because of your dialect speech? Given that tens of thousands of hours of the recordings have not yet been processed in a systematic and comprehensive way, the first half of the study provides numerical and detailed data on how the planned program of the research group was realized in practice regarding, for the time being, the Western Hungarian data collection sites. The second half of the study presents partial results on the language and dialect awareness, attitudes and use of the respondents by analysing the sociolinguistic interviews recorded in this area. The study provides a more accurate description of the specifics in the archive of the New General Atlas of Hungarian Dialects project, as well as what the recorded data reveal on the linguistic mentality of the Western Hungarian speech community in the beginning of the 21st century. This is just one of the numerous research topics offered by the enormous archive.

Humic acids, isolated from selected soils of Grønfjorden area (Spitsbergen) were investigated in terms of molecular composition and resistance of decomposition. The degree of soils organic matter stabilization has been assessed with the use of modern instrumental methods (nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (CP/MAS 13C-NMR). Analysis of the humic acids showed that aromatic compounds prevail in the organic matter formed in cryoconites, located on the glaciers surfaces. The predominance of aliphatic fragments is revealed in the soils in tidal zone that form on the coastal terrace. This could be caused by sedimentation of fresh organic matter exhibiting low decomposition stage due to the harsh climate and processes of hydrogenation in the humic acids, destruction of the C-C bonds and formation of chains with a high hydrogen content. These processes result in formation of aliphatic fragments in the humic acids. In general, soils of the studied region characterizes by low stabilized soil organic matter which is indicated by low aromaticity of the HAs.

Marine governance is an essential way of achieving the objectives of sustainable development. It ought to be understood as the process of planning, as well as decision-making and management at the national and regional levels taking into account the global ocean as an ecological unity. The process of decision-making is closely interrelated with the regional and transnational cross-border cooperation. The adoption of the EU Directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning (hereinafter: MSP Directive) plays an important role in developing of marine spatial planning in Europe by promoting MSP instruments. MSP Directive requires all coastal EU Member States to prepare cross-sectoral maritime spatial plans by 2021. The development of spatial plans for Polish marine areas was started in 2013. The MSP legal bases are included in the Marine Areas of the Republic of Poland and Maritime Administration Act of 1991 amended in 2015 and its implementing regulations.