Roger Scruton repudiates the idea that civil liberty is a natural and unconditionally desirable state of citizenry, while subjection is something degrading and unnatural. He characterizes the conservative political system as a ‘rule by institutions’ supported by a theory of nature and a theory describing the functioning of institutions. National politics results from operations of social and political institutions which have grown out of traditional arrangements, respect raison d’État, and are governed by offices. The author argues that this is a sound interpretation of essential political arrangements, if it can solve the problem of political reconstruction after a period of decline or disintegration. As a matter of fact Scruton offers such a solution in his analysis of various forms of liberalism, one of which he seems to identify with conservatism.

The article presents two dimensions of the relationship between cinema and Polish independence. The first part was devoted to the situation of Polish cinema after 1918. I describe the film market, the political situation, relationship between the state and cinematography, films that were then created and their impact on national identity. Then I focus on films in which independence has become a movie theme. I divide them into three periods: until 1939, the People's Republic of Poland and after 1989. I draw attention to their political and historical contexts, functions and film form, and I discuss the meaning and interpretation of each films.

Poa annua L. is the only non−native vascular plant that was successfully established in the maritime Antarctic. This project aimed to determine the amount of genetic and epigenetic variation within and between two populations of P. annua , one from South Shetland Is. (Antarctic) and the other one from Central Europe. We applied two AFLP marker systems, using endonucleases that recognised the same restriction site but differed in their sensitivity towards methylation. The Antarctic population differed from the Polish one both at the genetic and epigenetic levels. Genetic variability in the Antarctic population was lower than in the Polish one. Some loci in the Antarctic population showed signs of selection. The difference between Polish and Antarctic populations might be due to a weak bottleneck effect followed by population expansion. Using only epigenetic markers, the Ant − arctic population exhibited increased variation level compared to the Polish one. These may have resulted from plastic responses to environmental factors and could be associated with survival in extreme conditions.

The article discusses how to research the impact of migration on social change in sending countries, without using a development studies framework. It argues for greater attention to the lives of ‘stayers’. A comprehensive approach to migration impact should begin by using mainstream sociological re-search to identify overall social trends in the origin country, before considering migration as one de-terminant of change. The case study is social remittances in contemporary Poland. Social remittances are understood to include not just foreign ideas, but also those resulting from migrants’ reflections on their own changing lives. One way to investigate how such social remittances ‘scale up’ to create cul-tural change is to consider the meso-level of regional migration culture. Taking the example of changing gender roles, I discuss Polish sociological and migration scholarship before presenting my own quan-titative and qualitative data on stayers’ opinions about maternal migration. I show how stayers in re-gions with high levels of migration can become persuaded to condone maternal behaviour which is at odds with traditional views on gender roles and the importance of the extended family. Migration cultures are, however, not so visible in other parts of Poland or in Polish cities. The final part of the article employs the concept of migration sub-cultures – pockets of migration exposure and expertise among particular social groups. Examining the case of Wrocław, a prosperous city which might appear to be untouched by migration influences, I argue that such sub-cultures are probably more prevalent than might be assumed.

This work focuses on the fact that the realities of today’s Ukrainian economy require not only recovery but also an increase in the volume of production of products produced by energy-intensive enterprises in the industry to the pre-crisis level, which stimulated the following: an increase in the demand for fuel and energy resources (FER); the increase in the cost of imported natural gas and oil, which became an excessive burden for domestic economic entities and the state budget and led to increased dependence on the geopolitical influence of the Russian Federation; the weakening of Ukraine’s position on the global energy market as a transporter of energy resources; increased competition in the global, national and regional markets of FER under the influence of the growth of general demand, etc. It was confirmed through analysis that the priority of the state policy in the field of the energy security of Ukraine will continue to be the stimulation of the implementation of energy-saving measures and the improvement of the efficiency of the use of FER by attracting all possible incentives at all levels of management. A visualized model is proposed which will make it possible to systematically manage the processes of the effective use of FES; an action algorithm has been developed that will allow solving problems that arise in changing external and internal environments, simplifying the decision-making procedure regarding the effectiveness of the use of FER, and reducing their specific costs. The assessment and forecasting of the energy efficiency of Ukraine’s economy was conducted using additive and multiplicative convolutions, which made it possible to forecast the energy efficiency index until 2035 in accordance with the adopted energy strategy of the state. It was determined that the strategic directions of increasing energy efficiency and realizing the energy potential of Ukraine remain the technological and structural restructuring of the economy, social infrastructure, and the creation of the economic, managerial and legal mechanisms necessary for the implementation of the state energy efficiency policy.

The recycle of the building and demolition waste could reduce project expenses and save natural resources as well as solve problem about environmental risks incurred during the disposal of building waste. In this study, waste C30 concrete is taken an experimental material. The mass loss, ultrasonic velocity, dynamic modulus of elasticity and cubic compressive strength of recycled coarse aggregate concrete whose coarse aggregate replacement percentage is 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% are tested and compared with NAC when the cycles of freezing and thawing are 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, and 200 times. The results show: (1) Generally, the loss of mass, ultrasonic velocity, dynamic modulus of elasticity and cubic compressive strength constantly increase with the growth of freezing and thawing cycles. (2) Compared with the recycled concrete of other replacement percentages, the RAC50 shows relatively close performance to NAC in mass loss, the change of dynamic modulus of elasticity and cubic compressive strength. (3) Performances of RAC25 specimens are better than the other RAC specimens for the ultrasonic wave velocity.

Background: The skills and attitudes of medical staff affect the quality of the healthcare system, hence the study of academic motivation and quality of life of medical students.
Materials and Methods: The study involved 203 students of the Jagiellonian University Medical College. Academic motivation was assessed using the Academic Motivation Scale and quality of life using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire. Academic Motivation Scale is based on the Self-Determination Theory, which distinguishes several dimensions of motivation arranged along self-determination continuum from amotivation, through extrinsic, controllable motivation, to intrinsic, autonomous motivation.
Results: For our students, the main reason for taking up studies was identified regulation, it means that they perceive studying as something important for them, giving more opportunities in the future. Next was intrinsic motivations to know, where gaining knowledge is a value in itself. The third was external regulation, which indicate that the choice of studies was regulated by the dictates of the environment or the desire to obtain a reward. Female students showed a more intrinsically motivational profile than male students. Motivation became less autonomous as the years of study progressed. Most students rated their quality of life as good or very good. There was weak correlation between students’ good quality of life and more self-determined academic motivation.
Conclusions: Our students are mainly intrinsically motivated, most of them positively assess the quality of life. A more autonomous approach to learning coexisted with a positive assessment of quality of life.