Not enough computing power for data processing? A ridiculous number of man-hours needed to visually inspect collections of raw data? Scientists facing such problems can seek help from volunteers equipped only with computers connected to the Internet. In other words, from practically everybody.

Palaeomagnetic investigation of the Upper Carboniferous clastic Hyrnefjellet Formation from opposite limbs of the Hyrnefjellet Anticline in southern Spitsbergen (Svalbard Archipelago) uncovered two components of NRM. Direction C1 (D = 224.6°; I = –27.9°; κ = 22.40; α95% = 5.6°) is of prefolding origin and most probably of near-primary origin. High Tb spectra above 575°C indicate hematite as the carrier of C1. Acquisition of the C1 component may be related to an early diagenetic crystallization of hematite, not excluding a detrital origin of the NRM. A paleopole calculated for the C1 component (F = 23.3°N; L= 147.7°E) falls into the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous sector of APWP for Baltica. This result suggests that Svalbard remained in the present day orientation with respect to Baltica since the Carboniferous time. A second component with intermediate unblocking temperatures, determined in the Hyrnefjellet Formation deposits, is labelled C2. Its mean orientation for in situ position is D = 11.2°; I = 69.2° (κ = 44.05; α95% = 6.3°), thus being similar to Late Mesozoic directions for Baltica. After 100% tectonic correction for tilting of anticline limbs and axis, the C2 component orientation is D = 265.7°; I = 59.7°, thus being distant from any directions for Baltica. Detailed analysis suggest that the C2 component is most probably of synfolding origin, and it was formed during the Tertiary Alpine Tectonic Event.

Artykuł podejmuje polemikę z zarzutem naturalistycznego redukcjonizmu, którym rzekomo obciążona jest antropologia filozoficzna Arnolda Gehlena. W pierwszej części artykułu przeanalizuję zasadność zarzutu o redukcjonizm w kontekście rozważań Gehlena nad naturą człowieka, z kolei przedmiotem drugiej części będzie pojęcie natury jako obiektywnego świata, natomiast część trzecia i czwarta podejmą wątki dotyczące zagadnienia moralności (3) oraz kultury i ludzkiej świadomości (4) pod kątem zarzutu o rzekomy naturalizm jego projektu antropologicznego. Argumentuję, że antropologia Gehlena ma wprawdzie na celu zintegrowanie wyników badań nauk biologicznych i społecznych, jednakże wyprowadza z nich implikacje filozoficzne o takim poziomie ogólności, że wykraczają one poza kompetencje nauk szczegółowych. Ich ustalenia uzyskują w jego koncepcji uniwersalne znaczenie w ramach systemu filozoficznych kategorii opisujących człowieka jako całościowy projekt natury. Gehlen odrzuca wszelkie próby tworzenia ogólnej teorii człowieka na podstawie badań komparatystycznych wyprowadzających własności ludzkiej kondycji ze świata zwierzęcego. Gehlenowska antropobiologia rezygnuje z pojęcia natury człowieka w sensie biologicznym, tzn. jako zestawu ewolucyjnie zdeterminowanych cech morfologicznych, fizjologicznych i behawioralnych, porzuca również obiektywistyczne pojęcie „natury zewnętrznej” jako obszaru ontycznego niezawisłego od zapośredniczeń kulturowych. Język, świadomość, kultura stanowią efekt procesów kompensujących biologiczne deficyty, a jednocześnie reprezentują obszar kompetencji i wartości, które są autonomiczne i autoteliczne, a zatem całkowicie niezależne od biologicznych uwarunkowań.

Bromate is well known by-product produced by the ozonation of drinking water; the allowed concentration for human consumption has to be regulated to few μg/dm3 ranges. A method using ion chromatography has been developed, which will quantify bromate on this level, even in the presence of high levels of common anions such as chloride, nitrate and sulphate. The present article presents results of study of bromate determination in drinking water by two ion chromatographic methods. First was a direct method according to ISO 15061 with conductivity detector and limit of detection 4,5 μg/dm3. The second was new post-column derivatization reaction to produce tribromide ions, which was detected by UV detector. Limit of determination in this method was 0,5 μg/dm3. Both these methods are suitable to determination of bromate anions, because acceptable contents of bromate in drinking water in UE countries are 10 μg/dm3.

Chromium usually occurs in the (III) or (VI) oxidation state. Cr(III) is essential for mammalian systems to influence maintain several metabolic pathways. In contrast. Cr(YI) exerts toxic influence on biological systems and is strongly canccrogcnic. Cr(Vl) compounds arc usually highly soluble, mobile and bioavailable compared to sparingly soluble trivalent chromium compounds. Chromium is most often analysed using instrumental methods such as AAS or ICP. These methods are precise and sensitive but make determination of only total chromium. Possible content of Cr(VI) is estimated from the difference of total chromium content and Cr(III), which is analysed using photometric methods. This so-called "difference method" makes the calculated concentration of Cr(VI) is inaccurate. This paper describes sensitive and selective determination of Cr(VI) in various waters at ug/dnr' levels using a simple ion chromatography system with UV detector.

Chromium exists primarily in two oxidation states. The different toxicities and bioavailabilities of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) are public health concern and therefore require strict control. Some AAS/ICP methods work according to the so-called difference method and they do not allow the simultaneous determination of chromium(III) and (VI). The need of more accurate and rapid analysis of environmental samples has led to investigation of ion chromatography as an alternative to wet chemical chromium analyses. Conventional HPLC, photometric methods and atomic absorption spectroscopy analyse are less interference free than ion chromatography which has been used in a wide variety of chemical species. At present analytical chemists focus on alternative Cr(III)+Cr(Vl) methods which will be faster, more sensitive and cheaper than spectroscopic methods and which will allow to exclude many matrix interferences. This paper describes investigations of application of PDCA as a complexing agent of Cr (III) ions and its using in simultaneous determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in water by means of ion chromatography with UV detector.

Niewystarczająca moc obliczeniowa do przetworzenia danych? Absurdalna liczba roboczogodzin konieczna do inspekcji surowych wyników? Naukowcom, którzy mają tego typu problemy, mogą przyjść z pomocą wolontariusze wyposażeni jedynie w komputer podłączony do sieci. Czyli prawie wszyscy.

Martin Heidegger’s philosophy influenced both psychiatry and practical psychotherapy of mentally disturbed patients. The essay deals with Heidegger’s concepts of corporeality and disease, as they were expounded in the Zollikon seminars, and discusses the influence of Heidegger’s Dasein-analysis on Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss. The concepts of Dasein-analysis, proposed by the two psychiatrists, are also discussed. At the end of the paper the author shows the relevance of Heidegger’s thought for psychiatry and psychotherapy in general and for the so-called anthropological psychiatry in particular.

On 28 March 2023, the first ESP EASAC meeting in 2023 took place in Budapest at the invitation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The broad and interesting range of issues addressed by Environmental Steering Panel should attract more interest also in Poland. Unfortunately, the activity in EASAC is pro publico bono, which is probably the main reason for the low activity of Polish scientists as experts invited to individual projects. Is the organisation referred to in this article credible? The answer is that, at the end of 2018, EASAC was awarded “Think Tank of the Year” by the prestigious Public Affairs Awards Europe. This shows that the activity is appreciated among professionals. I sincerely encourage anyone interested to find out more about what ESP EASAC is doing and to keep checking our activities.

Demand for energy and resources has been growing as a result of population growth and increased consumption to the point where all the scientific evidence shows we are bumping up against fundamental planetary boundaries on which our civilizations depend. In new EASAC report trends that lead calls for “transformative” change, with a focus on some of the systemic and structural failures that are driving our current unsustainable development has been discussed.

A total number of 156 palaeomagnetic specimens of metacarbonates from 9 sites in Blomstrandhalvøya and Lovénøyane (Kongsfjorden, western Spitsbergen) and an additional 77 specimens of unmetamorphosed sediments infilling fractures (4 sites) within the Caledonian metamorphic basement of Blomstrandhalvøya were demagnetized. No relicts of pre-metamorphic magnetization were identified. The Natural Remanent Magnetization (NRM) pattern of metacarbonates is dominated by Caledonian (sensu lato) – Svalbardian and Late Mesozoic/Cenozoic secondary magnetic overprints carried by the pyrrhotite and magnetite/maghemite phases, respectively. The NRM of unmetamorphosed sediments infilling the karstic/tectonic fractures is dominated by hematite carrier. It revealed three stages of magnetization: Caledonian sensu lato, Carboniferous and Late Mesozoic/Cenozoic, which can be related to their initial fracturing, karstification and sedimentation or reactivation. As the majority of the palaeopoles calculated for the Kongsfjorden sites fit the 430 – 0 Ma sector of Laurussia reference path in an in situ orientation these results support the hypothesis that Blomstrandhalvøya and Lovénøyane escaped main Eurekan deformations. The potential rotation of the Kongsfjorden basement by any west dipping listric fault activity rotating the succession accompanying the opening of North Atlantic Ocean was not documented by the palaeomagnetic data presented here.