Glass is a material commonly used in construction. The development of technology related to it, and the increase in knowledge concerning its mechanical and strength properties offer opportunities for glass to be applied as a structural material. The advancement in glass structures, methods for their design, as well as guidelines and standards in this fields are being developed in parallel. This article describes the main assumptions contained in the German TRxV guidelines, the series of German DIN 18008 standards, and the European EN 16612, and EN 16613 standard. Moreover, the following article presents the concept of structural glass design included in the draft pre-standard prCEN/TS 19100, which provides the basis for the formulation of the European standard Eurocode 10. According to this pre-standard, structural elements of glass will be verified in four limit states, depending on the Limit State Scenario (LSS). Apart from the classic limit states, i.e., the ultimate limit state (ULS), and the serviceability limit state (SLS), it is also assumed to introduce a fracture limit state (FLS), and postfracture limit state (PFLS). The article also addresses the issue of laminated glass working in structural elements. Depending on the coupling between the glass panes and the polymer or ionomer interlayers, laminated glass can be divided into complete coupled or uncoupled, and can work in intermediate situations. The methods for determining the effective thickness contained in European standards and guidelines are discussed in this article.

The author presents the output of Eduard Makarian, a Russian cultural anthropologist, featuring his contribution to the problem of origin of culture. The development of Makarian’s scientific research has been presented from the understanding of systemic character of culture to the research on the origin of culture; from reflecting upon the first principles of culture development to the concept of system evolution as anthropogenesis, social evolution and cultural evolution, to the understanding of the origin of culture as a creative core of culture (cultural heritage, dynamics of cultural traditions, “tradition”–“change” dichotomy, hypothesis of “cultural genes”, etc.). The scientist moved from the issue of the origin of culture in the prehistoric times through the issues of permanent creation and dialectic self-revival of culture to the problems of culture in contemporary world. His research was of key importance for the establishment of philosophical and cultural approach in the research of the origin of culture in Russia.

This article presents the aims and the story of origins of the annual Research Papers of the Polish University Abroad (Third Series), published in London in 2013–2020. This is followed by a list of its sponsors, the annual's editorial profile and a quantitative and thematic analysis of its contents.