An interesting fact in the intellectual history of the fin-de-siècle and first three decades of the 20th century is that the crisis of modernity was understood in categories of sex and gender. In spite of the differences dividing the German intellectual trend of cultural pessimism, the conservative revolution, and Fascist thinking, all these paradigms are linked by the characteristic conviction that ‘modernity’, being the consequence of the French Revolution, was ruled by the ‘feminine principle’. This principle was supposed to represent what is anti-military, anti-state, and anti-cultural at the same time. Variations on the theory of male bonding (Männerbund) were the intellectual reaction to that ‘feminine principle’. The intellectual patterns described here find their continuation in contemporary conservative thought.

Based on data collected during an UCG pilot-scale experiment that took place during 2014 at Wieczorek mine, an active mine located in Upper Silesia (Poland), this research focuses on developing a dynamic fire risk prevention strategy addressing underground coal gasification processes (UCG) within active mines, preventing economic and physical losses derived from fires.

To achieve this goal, the forecasting performance of two different kinds of artificial neural network models (generalized regression and multi-layer feedforward) are studied, in order to forecast the syngas temperature at the georeactor outlet with one hour of anticipation, thus giving enough time to UCG operators to adjust the amount and characteristics of the gasifying agents if necessary.

The same model could be used to avoid undesired drops in the syngas temperature, as low temperature increases precipitation of contaminants reducing the inner diameter of the return pipeline. As a consequence the whole process of UGC might be stopped. Moreover, it could allow maintaining a high temperature that will lead to an increased efficiency, as UCG is a very exothermic process.

Results of this research were compared with the ones obtained by means of Multivariate Adaptative Regression Splines (MARS), a non-parametric regression technique able to model non-linearities that cannot be adequately modelled using other regression methods.

Syngas temperature forecast with one hour of anticipation at the georeactor outlet was achieved successfully, and conclusions clearly state that generalized regression neural networks (GRNN) achieve better forecasts than multi-layer feedforward networks (MLFN) and MARS models.

A passive autocatalytic hydrogen recombiner (PAR) is a self-starting device, without operator action or external power input, installed in nuclear power plants to remove hydrogen from the containment building of a nuclear reactor. A new mechanistic model of PAR has been presented and validated by experimental data and results of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The model allows to quickly and accurately predict gas temperature and composition, catalyst temperature and hydrogen recombination rate. It is assumed in the model that an exothermic recombination reaction of hydrogen and oxygen proceeds at the catalyst surface only, while processes of heat and mass transport occur by assisted natural and forced convection in non-isothermal and laminar gas flow conditions in vertical channels between catalyst plates. The model accounts for heat radiation from a hot catalyst surface and has no adjustable parameters. It can be combined with an equation of chimney draft and become a useful engineering tool for selection and optimisation of catalytic recombiner geometry.

This article discusses passages in the works of Greek and Roman writers, from Homer to the Church Fathers and Procopius, in which the seaside is a place of carefree play, those in which looking at the sea seems to have a good influence on the human mind, those in which walking on the shore is an opportunity for a philosophical dispute, and those in which pleasure is derived from being alone near the sea.

The practice capacity of a railway junction depends, in addition to the effective operation’s conditions, by the potential risk factors related to the design plan of the railway station. With the aim of an approach based on the “fuzzy sets” it is possible to determine the numeric value of the practice capacity by the logic – qualitative relations between the features of the railway junction and the potential risk factors. This methodology permits to try out the absolute value of a suitable vector β, (less then the unit) for the utilization of the theoretic capacity in conditions of maximum reliability of the system related to the aspect of safety (technique “fail safe”).

The instability characteristics of a dielectric fluid layer heated from below under the influence of a uniform vertical alternating current (AC) electric field is analyzed for different types of electric potential (constant electric potential/ electric current), velocity (rigid/free) and temperature boundary conditions (constant temperature/heat flux or a mixed condition at the upper boundary). The resulting eigenvalue problem is solved numerically using the shooting method for various boundary conditions and the solution is also found in a simple closed form when the perturbation heat flux is zero at the boundaries. The possibility of a more precise control of electrothermal convection (ETC) through various boundary conditions is emphasized. The effect of increasing AC electric Rayleigh number is to hasten while that of Biot number is to delay the onset of ETC. The system is more stable for rigid-rigid boundaries when compared to rigid-free and least stable for free-free boundaries. The change of electric potential boundary condition at the upper boundary from constant electric potential to constant electric current is found to instill more stability on the system. Besides, increase in the AC electric Rayleigh number and the Biot number is to reduce the size of convection cells.

The quantitative description of an airlift bioreactor, in which aerobic biodegradation limited by carbonaceous substrate and oxygen dissolved in a liquid takes place, is presented. This process is described by the double-substrate kinetics. Mathematical models based on the assumption of plug flow and dispersion flow of liquid through the riser and the downcomer in the reactor were proposed. Calculations were performed for two representative hydrodynamic regimes of reactor operation, i.e. with the presence of gas bubbles only within the riser and for complete gas circulation. The analysis aimed at how the choice of a mathematical model of the process would enable detecting the theoretical occurrence of oxygen deficiency in the airlift reactor. It was demonstrated that the simplification of numerical calculations by assuming the “plug flow” model instead of dispersion with high Péclet numbers posed a risk of improper evaluation of the presence of oxygen deficiency zones. Conclusions related to apparatusmodelling and process design were drawn on the basis of the results obtained. The paper is a continuation of an earlier publication (Grzywacz, 2012a) where an analysis of single-substrate models of the airlift reactor was presented.

The study investigates the axial load behaviour of concrete filled battened steel columns not covered by the design standards. A series of full scale tests on two I-sections connected together with intermediate batten plates and filled with concrete were carried out. The main parameters varied in the tests are length of the members and strength of the concrete filling. One bare steel member was also tested and results were compared with those filled with concrete. The tests results were illustrated by load-strain curves. The main objectives of these tests were twofold: first, to describe behaviour of new steel-concrete columns and second, to analyze the influence of slenderness on load-carrying capacity.

Civil engineering is one of the many fields of occurrences of uncertain parameters. The present paper in an attempt to present and describe the most common methods used for inclusions of uncertain parameters . These methods can be applied in the area of civil engineering as well as for a larger domain. Definitions and short explanations of methods based on probability, interval analysis, fuzzy sets, and convex sets are presented. Selected advantages, disadvantages, and the most common fields of implementation are indicated.

An example of a cantilever beam presented in this paper shows the main differences between the methods. Results of the performed analysis indicate that the use of convex sets allows us to obtain an accuracy of results similar to stochastic models. At the same time, the computational speed characteristic for interval methods is maintained.