Cephalopod specimens assigned to the Argonautidae (Obinautilus pulchra Kobayashi, 1954 and an unknown taxon) from two localities of the Mishan Formation in Gohreh and Khorgu sections, Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, are reported for the first time from the Persian Gulf area. The co-existing foraminifera confirm the middle Miocene age of the strata. Based on micropalaeontological data, the previous Oligocene age of Obinautilus pulchra is extended to the middle Miocene. The palaeobiogeographic distribution of the reported Argonautidae shows that the presence of these faunas is limited to the West Pacific, Indo-Pacific and the East Pacific. The present-day distribution of the Argonautidae is similar to the ancient one and seems to be inherited from their ancestors.

The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006) is a modern legal document, which amends and integrates 36 International Labour Organization conventions and 1 protocol to a convention. This makes the MLC a global standard equivalent to an international maritime labour code.

Experimental investigations and numerical simulations have been conducted in this study to derive and test the values of kinetic parameters describing oxidation and gasification reactions between char carbon and O2 and CO2 occurring at standard air and oxy-fuel combustion conditions. Experiments were carried out in an electrically heated drop-tube at heating rates comparable to fullscale pulverized fuel combustion chambers. Values of the kinetic parameters, obtained by minimization of the difference between the experimental and modeled values of char burnout, have been derived and CFD simulations reproducing the experimental conditions of the drop tube furnace confirmed proper agreement between numerical and experimental char burnout.

The Telbesmi Formation, at the northern margin of the Arabian Plate, Turkey, is composed of alternating darkbrown,

pinky-brown fluvial arkosic sandstone/mudstones with thin-bedded cherty limestones and channel

conglomerates. The formation contains rare and poorly diversified trace fossils. The siltstone/sandstone beds of

levels 1 and 2 of the formation yielded, however, a moderately diverse assemblage composed of: Cochlichnus

isp., Palaeophycus isp., Planolites beverleyensis, Teichichnus isp. and ?Treptichnus rectangularis. This assemblage,

made up of traces left by deposit feeding organisms, represents the Scoyenia ichnofacies. Treptichnus

rectangularis and Palaeophycus isp., of the assemblage, can be considered markers for the base of the Cambrian

in southeast Turkey.

Five major phases of interrelation between the Bible and literature may be distinguished in German literary history. During the Middle Ages, when the Church and Christian faith played the dominant role, the Bible was treated in literary circles as a work in itself. Authors of the abundant biblical epic poetry, affirmatively paraphrasing Scripture texts, initiated the emergence and development of national literature. The works of that period had a propagandist character and served Christianization as well as the deepening of the faith. The original sense and meaning of the Bible was challenged - in the name of science and the social idea - during the period of the Enlightenment. The Bible seen as poetry endowed with wonderful rhythm, having powerful imaginative impact, and containing elements of Eastern folklore became popular and enjoyed its renaissance in the 19th century, mainly on Herder's account. Contemporary literature employs the language of the Bible not as ornamentation but as key element of poetic expression, and biblical characters serve either auto-reflection or the presentation of archaeological archetypes. 20th century German literature tends to have critical and negating biblical stylization. Such sty- lization results when the author's intentions and value system do not agree with what the biblical text contains, and when the word of God is used for the purpose of alienation and parody. Affirmative biblical stylization occurs sporadically in contemporary literature. The most common kind of biblical stylization, typical of modernist and postmodernist lyric poetry, is partial stylization, serving polemic purposes or alternative solutions.

The article is intended to be an appendix to an earlier discussion on the activities of the foreign scientific centres of the Polish Academy of Sciences (“Nauka” 4/2020 and 2/2021). It presents another case study, namely the centre situated in Rome – one of the eldest Polish centres abroad – its historical background and heritage as well as its recent activities. It points out also some actual present problems and challenges in order to stimulate a broader debate on how the PAS foreign centres could be better used to promote and disseminate the achievements of Polish researchers.