The growing popularity of so-called cognitive enhancement technologies raises questions about their impact on the sphere of individual legal responsibility. This article examines the issue of whether, in a situation where a surgeon, prone to making a fatigue-related medical error, refuses to undergo a safe cognitive enhancement before surgery, the surgeon can be attributed liability for damages. The answer to this question is negative, however, as indicated in the article, the impossibility of attributing damages is a result of (1) the lack of professional guidelines requiring doctors to undergo cognitive enhancement; (2) the lack of scientific evidence that the use of such measures results in the elimination of fatigue and reduces the risk of error. As a result, the negative answer to the analyzed question is not determined by the solution of the model of liability for damages adopted in Polish law, but rather by the current state of research on cognitive improvement. This gives the analysis a universal character and makes it possible to relate the method adopted in it to new results of research on means of cognitive enhancement if any.
The aim of the article is to show the dependence of what is our/mine and Other/Alien in thinking about conflicts around investment projects. Investments related to the development of space and resources of the Earth, especially if they cause any (real or potential) changes, generate negative emotions which often become the embers of conflict.
Paradoxically, participation in such conflict may benefit the parties involved. Positive outcomes include: meeting needs (attention and significance), fulfilling (new) social roles, learning about other points of view, finding themselves in new social groups or embedded in local communities. Living in the social theater of life, each person plays different roles, which can lead to tension and a sense of ambivalence. In this situation, the individual has a sense of identity dispersion, being able to be simultaneously in several groups opposing each other. The conflict surrounding the Orzesze mining project can serve as an example here. This and other examples show that what is mine and the Other/Alien, with all its separateness, is, however, more or less intertwined with each other. So, the phenomenon of mutual dependence between the Other/Alien and conflict can provide an interesting perspective when looking at conflicts in managing the space and resources of the Earth. Conflicts, in particular mining-related ones, are an extremely complex phenomenon with great potential – both negative and positive. The appreciation of the benefits mentioned in the article, which result from the mutual dependence of the parties involved in the conflict along with their readiness to go outside their comfort zones, provide an opportunity for mutual understanding and reaching agreement which could lead to a positive change consistent with the idea of sustainable development.
In this complex situation, the incorporation of not only sociological but also psychological aspects becomes an important element of the states’ and companies’ resources policy and cannot be neglected any more.
The relative relationships “yield – evapotranspiration” were used long time ago. The well known linear relationship yi = 1 – ky (1 – ei), where yi is relative yield, ky – yield response factor and ei – relative evapotranspiration was proposed. It’s usually assumed that ky is constant for a given crop and climatic conditions. It was found, however, that ky for late variety of maize H 708 varied through the study years (1984–1990) in the Plovdiv region (South Bulgaria, altitude 150 m). During the dry years it was significantly higher than in the medium and humid years. The range of ky for maize in this location was 1.12–1.90, the average value being 1.50. The climate in the Sofia region (the ex-perimental field of Chelopechene, altitude 550 m) is comparatively more humid. The two regions approximately outlined the boundaries of the appropriate economical conditions for grain maize pro-duction. The experiments in the Sofia region were carried out in the years 1994–2000. The seven years results for mean variety maize showed that the relationships “yield – evapotranspiration” and, respectively, ky varied at these climatic conditions too. The highest ky value was 1.41 for the driest year (2000) and the lowest value – 1.05 for the most wet years (1995, 1999). The value of ky for av-erage years was 1.21. The yield response factor ky is of more significance when the relative evapotranspiration is less than 0.7–0.8. Thus, the extreme or the average values of ky could be used for the corresponding climatic regions. The relationships between ky and relative yield were estab-lished without considering irrigation.
Karl Marx (and also Friedrich Engels, by the way) was – contrary to his own opinion – an author of several utopias which played a role in the 20th century. The question (which is of both historical-philosophical and historical-empirical character) therefore arises how important this role was. The author focuses on the characteristics of Marxian utopias, and specifically – on their axiological content and current relevance. According to the author, Marx’s utopias can be a convenient starting point for searching for various projects (political, economic, technological etc.) necessary to cope with global challenges that mankind faces in our time. The author is also considering Marx’s motives for a critical approach to utopias and points to those of them which in his opinion should be accepted, while distinguishing them from others which should be rejected.
The article aims to briefly present Peter Strawson’s view expressed in his seminal article Freedom and Resentment (1962). We start with certain remarks on the position of the article among other works by Strawson and on reasons of its vast popularity manifested by many modern authors interested in the issues of responsibility or free will. Next, we move on to the issue of interpretation of the central thought of Strawson’s work. To do this, we present the most common interpretation, which at the first glance seems to express the core of Strawson’s view in a fairly convincing way. Then we adopt a slightly different perspective on the main line of reasoning in the article in question and in this context we try to interpret its general message. We argue that the main topic of the article is the philosophical issue of punishment. For this is the problem which – if we are right – is the proper object of the debate between an optimist who is also a compatibilist and a pessimist who is also a libertarian.
Freedom and Resentment (1962), written by Peter Frederick Strawson, is one of the most influential papers in 20th century investigations regarding the problem of free will. An interesting criticism of that work was proposed by his son, Galen Strawson, who analyzed and rejected his father’s view, called the theory of reactive attitudes. In my paper I reconstruct the views of Peter Strawson and present counterarguments put forward by Galen Strawson. In the summary I suggest, following Robert Kane, that the disagreement may reflect some important changes in analytic philosophy.
The number of human cases of salmonellosis in the EU was 94,625 in 2015. Considering the source of these infections, Salmonella spp. was most frequently detected in broiler chicken meat and Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) was the most commonly reported serovar.
The efficacy of probiotics in limiting Salmonella spp. infection in poultry has been demonstrated in numerous papers. The administration of probiotics at the level of primary production reduces the risk of contamination of poultry food products with Salmonella spp.
A study was carried out in order to determine the potential for reducing the Salmonella spp. population in broiler chickens with the use of the Lavipan (JHJ, Poland) probiotic that comprised selected stains of lactic acid bacteria and Saccharomyces cervisae.
Salmonella spp.-free broiler chickens were divided into two groups and received the same feed with (group L) or without (group C) the probiotic throughout the experiment. All day-old chickens were infected per os with SE. Samples of cecum content were collected 2, 4, and 6 weeks after SE infection and pectoral muscles were collected 6 weeks following SE infection for the evaluation of the SE population number. Serum samples for serological examinations were collected 6 weeks after infection.
Six weeks after infection, the number of SE-positive cecal samples was lower in the L group (12.5% positive) in comparison to the C group (87.5%). Similar results were demonstrated for the muscle samples (25% in contrast to 87.5%). At the same time, in both cases, the SE CFU/g was significantly lower in the L group. The results of our study indicate that Lavipan was capable of reducing the population of SE in the gastrointestinal tract, which eventually improved the hygienic parameters of the pectoral muscles.
Four weeks after infection, SE was not detected in any of the experimental groups. In both groups, no specific anti-SE antibodies were detected.
This article describes a novel approach to measure responsivity of a FET-based sub-THz detector using on-wafer probes to directly feed a bare antenna-less detecting device. Thus, the approach eliminates the need to know beforehand the detector’s effective aperture, which can be a source of large variation between responsivity measurements of various FET-based detectors often cited in the literature. It seems that the presented method can be useful at making direct comparisons between responsivity of various devices (e.g., MOSFETs, HEMTs etc.). As a demonstration, the sub-THz responsivity of a pHEMT device fabricated using a commercial GaAs process has been measured in a WR-3 frequency band. Additionally, the results have been compared against data obtained using an alternative approach. The verification method consisted in integrating exactly the same device with a broad-band antenna and a carefully selected high-resistivity silicon lens and comparing its performance with that of a commercial calibrated detector based on Schottky diodes.
Industry 4.0 and the associated idea of society 4.0 pose specific challenges for the concept of sustainable development. These challenges relate, inter alia, to responsibility, in which the changes to date have overall entailed:
• a transition from ex post responsibility to ex ante responsibility (H. Jonas);
• a transition from individual responsibility to corporate social responsibility.
In the context of society 4.0 there is a need for shared responsibility. The problem of justice and therefore the implementation of sustainable development not only becomes an open problem, but also requires constant updating and specifi c optimisation.
The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility is now much better recognized and more widely discussed in Poland than before. The year 2018 was legislatively the first year in which, according to the directive of the European Union, large and medium- sized enterprises became obliged to report their CSR strategies or to explain the reasons of non-compliance. The article, referring to the existing literature on the subject and ongoing discussion, looks for the possibility of such cultural involvement of enterprises which would be an integral part of their social responsibility.
The subject of this article concerns the growing issue of implementing the concept of social responsibility in the activities of integrated energy entities. This work includes the performance of a budgetary analysis of the national leading company, in terms of expenses associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR). The article presents the analysis of source literature, as well as identifies stakeholder activities. The introduction includes an explanation of the concept of CSR, its global approach along with the justification for the need to implement the concept of CSR in the strategy of industry entities. The following were used, among others, to perform the research: elements of financial and non-financial reporting, i.e. reports of a vertically integrated energy company – Capital Group Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA, over the years 2013–2017. The data obtained from distributed sources were used. The company’s activities in social and environmental directions were identified, and the stakeholder groups of these initiatives were determined. The main purpose of this article was to estimate the level of expenditure associated with CSR in the context of the company’s general budget. The article emphasizes the role of the PGE Foundation as a recognizable point of company activity in the scope of CSR (the participation of individual group companies in financing the foundation was presented). The analysis of CSR expenditure included: the amount of taxes paid, costs of employee benefits and assets of the social services fund, and environmental costs.
A lot of interest has recently been put into the so-called ‘virtual cryptographic currencies’, commonly known as cryptocurrencies, along with its surrounding market. The blockchain technology that stands behind them is also becoming increasingly popular. From the perspective of maintaining energy security, an important issue is the process of mining individual cryptocurrencies, which is associated with very high energy consumption. This operation is usually related to the approval of new blocks in the blockchain network and attaching them to the chain. This process is carried out through performing complex mathematical operations by various devices, which in turn require high power and respectively consume a lot of energy. The impact of cryptocurrency miners on the power and energy demand level might gradually increase over time, therefore this issue shouldn’t be ignored. Comparing the above information in parallel with the growing need for providing demand side response (DSR) services in the Polish Power System, raises the question whether devices used for mining cryptocurrencies can be used for the purpose of balancing the power system. This paper presents an analysis of the possibility to provide the demand side response services by groups of cryptocurrency miners users. The analysis was carried out taking basic functional, technological and economical aspects of these devices’ operations into account.