The aim of the study was to compare the effects of corneal healing in case of application of stem cells in various forms, in relation to the antibiotic-assisted procedures. Rabbits were divided into 4 groups in the first stage of the experiment. Group 0 (negative control group) was not subjected to any actions, which would cause damage to the cornea. The remaining three groups had their cornea damaged. Group 1 (positive control group) – no drugs were administered during the experiment. Rabbits in group 2 were administered with ointment containing stem cells to the lesion, while group 3 – with ofloxacinum. The stem cells were administered during the first five days, twice a day, onto the corneal surface. The further course of the experiment consisted of observing the rate of healing of the injured cornea and assessment of its transparency, size of lesion, hyperaemia, eyelid spasm and outflow from the conjunctival sac after 5, 10 and 20 days.

In the second stage the animals were euthanised after clinical examination on the twentieth day of the experiment, in order to analyse the corneal reparative processes on the same day. The studies revealed that the application of antlerogenic stem cells had a positive effect on the healing process of corneal defects. The application thereof not only shortened the healing time, but also weakened or arrested the development of side effects. The results have demonstrated that the epithelial proliferation in each group was different. The longest was maintained in the group with stem cells, the shortest – in the group with chemotherapeutics. The use of antlerogenic stem cells had a positive effect on the healing process of corneal lesions. The use of stem cells helped to maintain high transparency of the cornea.

Preventive methods of plant protection used currently require a significant number of treatments throughout the season. Research results indicate a possibility of reduction of the number of treatments by halfwithout serious loss of effectiveness if the attack of pathogens has been recorded early enough. Limiting treatments to truly necessary ones means conserving chemicals, fuel and labour and consequently substantial financial savings for the farm. However, early warning requires full analysis of many factors that influence incidence, development and harmfulness of diseases, pests and weeds in relation with their impact on the yield. Such an analysis is beyond the power of the farmer alone. Appropriate models have to be used that utilize weather data and field observations in real time. At the present, due to frequent updating of the databases and sharing of the system by many users, in integrated plant protection the most efficient seem to be internet decision support systems. As of 2000 the Institute of Plant Protection in Poznań together with the Institute Soil Science and Plant Cultivation in Puławy in cooperation with the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences conduct a joint research project on development and implementation of an Internet Decision Support System for Integrated Plant Protection in Poland. Various modules of the system are already available on the Internet. Much like similar systems operating abroad, the Polish DSS also takes advantage of weather data utilized in disease models (the weather module). Nevertheless, an important addition to the system are strategically relevant data such as values and statistic distributions of elements of climate and potential yields (the agroclimate module), operation sheets, exploitation data and prices (the technology module) etc., which are important to the formulation and adoption of a particular line of action and risk evaluation in economic terms. When all modules are operational, the information relevant to decision making will be derived from on-line analyses based on cost calculation of different variants of plant protection applicable to the current situation.

The process of carbon dioxide removal from monoethanolamine (MEA) - water solution was investigated on Poly Di Methyl Siloxane (PDMS) hydrophobic tubular membrane with a ceramic support. The effects of feed temperature, liquid flow rate and MEA concentration on CO2 mass transfer and selectivity were examined and found to be with a reasonable deviation (±25%) with predictions based on the multilayer film model. The membrane resistance was evaluated in separate experiments. The measured CO2 mass fluxes (0.17-0.45 kg/(m2h)) were found to be independent of the MEA concentration in the feed.