The determination of the content of ecotoxic elements directly in flue gas is important for determining its actual emission from coal combustion. Moreover, in the BAT for large combustion plants conclusions adopted in 2017, apart from tightening of pollutants emission standards, i.e. SO 2, NO x and dusts, and setting emission limits, among others, for mercury, the monitoring of the actual emission of toxic elements has been established with the use of specific analytical methods. The review and comparison of available methods of analyzing the content of elements in flue gases in accordance with American and European standards has been presented in the article. Moreover, the factors influencing the quality of the obtained measurement results were identified.

Evaluation apprehension is the anxiety arising from a concern that one’s knowledge or expertise may be evaluated unfavorably by an audience. In this regard, the educational field comprising students’ discussions, lectures, presentations, and interactions is not an exception. Plethora of studies on student apprehension demonstrated that the construct is under the influence of different factors and can create various consequences. The aim of the present review is to complement and encapsulate previous research on student apprehension by providing an updated review on the concept in different disciplines. Data from 30 studies published in Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, and System were coded based on a coding scheme. The studies were broadly classified into four categories in the realm of education in terms of students’ disciplines; namely, Second/Foreign Language Learning (9 studies), Accounting and Finance (4 studies), Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy (6 studies), and miscellaneous disciplines (11 studies). The focus of this review pivoted around antecedents and consequences of student apprehension in each field. The analysis demonstrated the multidimensional nature of the construct caused by a host of variables and resulting in a multitude of ramifications. Based on these findings, some implications and strategies for mitigating student evaluation apprehension are presented.

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.

A new method for computation of positive realizations of given transfer matrices of fractional linear continuous-time linear systems is proposed. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of positive realizations of transfer matrices are given. A procedure for computation of the positive realizations is proposed and illustrated by examples.

Several surface measurement methods for determining the volume of deep or layered stone exist.

One of the key indicators of coal extraction efficiency in open cast mining is to determine the volume

of excavated rock. Procedures for determining the volume have been used for many centuries.

Determining the extracted volume or layered material has been a periodically recurring role of mine

-surveying practice, and mine surveyors apply different methods for its determination. The incorrect

determination of the rock volume may result in large economic losses of the mining enterprise. The

choice of the method for determining the volume depends on the deadline by which the determined

volume has to be submitted to the superior components or the mining enterprise management, as well

as on the requirements for accuracy of the volume determination, and a financial limit beyond which

this volume determination has to be done. Secondary conditions for determining the volumes include

the level of personnel training in the individual procedures and methods of measuring and calculating

volumes, the technical standards of the enterprise, the applied instrumentation, hardware and

software. The article compares the values of the accurately defined mathematical solid (a cylindrical

segment) to the methods of calculating the volume normally used in mining and surveying practice

and programs commonly used to calculate volumes in order to determine the threshold value of the

systematic deviation in input measurements to determine the volume. The mathematical model is the

basis for determining the correct volumes of the extracted material. The surface of the drawn or layered

material does not form a smooth surface as a mathematical model. The process of determining

volume errors on the mathematical model has been verified on the real body of coal deposition. The

comparison of the determination of the errors between the digital terrain model on the mathematical

body and the real homogenization coal stock is presented at the Conclusion of the article.

Conventionally, the filtering technique for attitude estimation is performed using gyros or attitude dynamics

models. In order to extend the application range of an attitude filter, this paper proposes a quaternionbased

filtering framework for gyroless attitude estimation without an attitude dynamics model. The attitude

estimation system is established based on a quaternion kinematic equation and vector observation models.

The angular velocity in the system is determined through observation vectors from attitude sensors and the

statistical properties of the angular velocity error are analysed. A Kalman filter is applied to estimate the

attitude error such that the effect from the angular velocity error is compensated with its statistical properties

at each sampling moment. A numerical simulation example is presented to illustrate the performance of the

proposed algorithm.

The author tries to explain what consequences for social morality ensue from the assumption that moral attitudes are expressed not only in words but also in reactive attitudes. P.F. Strawson assumes that acts of resentment can alter attitudes of those who have triggered them by their behavior. On the other hand, we are ready to control our outbursts of short temper and anger to a certain degree if we take into account agents’ motives and their limited ability to exercise self-control. Moreover, it seems that reactive attitudes – though less precise than verbal rebuke – are more frank and straightforward. Nevertheless, why must I, when I hear a mediocre academic researcher brag over and over again about his apparently essential contribution to philosophy, curb my moral assessment of his self-importance to the level of my irritation? Why should I feel constrained to keep my moral disgust in tune with my impatience mixed with amusement? Why shouldn’t I continue to believe that I can be an amiable character and a rigorous moral person at the same time?

The sustainable development of human activities is directly related to the protection of the environment by lowering the anthropogenic stress. Pharmaceuticals – due to their growing consumption (use in medicine, veterinary, animal production, cosmetics) and their incomplete removal in wastewater treatment plants – are classified as a group of new and rapidly emerging pollutants which have been proven to have a negative impact onto water organisms. In order to ensure the proper protection of human health and the environment there is an urgent necessity of determining pharmaceuticals in clinical, cosmetic, food and environmental samples. Gas (GC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are valuable techniques for such determination, especially when they are coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS; LC-MS) or tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS; LC-MS/MS). The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of sustainability features of analytical techniques in the light of necessity to determine trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in the aforementioned different matrices. Using the Delphi method we performed an analysis of the key sources of the competitive advantages of the application of GC and GC-MS techniques for determining the pharmaceutical residue in clinical, cosmetic, food and environmental samples – compared to techniques based on HPLC or LC-MS. The analysis covered the following areas: (i) the features of the technique, (ii) the price, and (iii) the applicability in various sectors of economy.

Single-frame methods of determining the attitude of a nanosatellite are compared in this study. The methods selected for comparison are: Single Value Decomposition (SVD), q method, Quaternion ESTimator (QUEST), Fast Optimal Attitude Matrix (FOAM) − all solving optimally the Wahba’s problem, and the algebraic method using only two vector measurements. For proper comparison, two sensors are chosen for the vector observations on-board: magnetometer and Sun sensors. Covariance results obtained as a result of using those methods have a critical importance for a non-traditional attitude estimation approach; therefore, the variance calculations are also presented. The examined methods are compared with respect to their root mean square (RMS) error and variance results. Also, some recommendations are given.

The paper presents a detailed description of one of the newest methods of vacuum saturation of reinforcing preforms in gypsum molds. As an appropriate selection of the infiltration time is a crucial problem during realization of this process, aim of the analysis shown in the paper is to present methods of selection of subatmospheric pressure application time, a sequence of lowering and increasing pressure, as well as examining influence of structure of reinforcing preforms on efficiency of this process. To realize the aim, studies on infiltration of reinforcing preforms made of a corundum sinter of various granulation of sintered particles with a model alloy were conducted. The infiltration process analysis was carried out in two stages. The first stage consisted in investigation of influence of lengthening of sucking off air from the reinforcing preforms on efficiency of this process. In the second stage, an analysis of influence of a two-staged infiltration process on saturation of the studied materials was conducted. Because the studied preforms were of similar porosity, the obtained differences of the saturation level of particular preforms have shown, that the saturation process is influenced mostly by size of pores present in the reinforcement. Because of these differences, each reinforcement type requires individual selection of time and sequence of the saturation process. For reinforcements of higher pore diameter, it is sufficient to simply increase air sucking off time to improve the saturation, while for reinforcement of smaller pore diameter, it is a better solution to apply the two-staged process of sucking off air. Application of the proposed analysis method allows not only obtaining composite castings of higher quality, but also economical optimization of the whole process.