This article shows incidents associated with the use of gas as an energy carrier. It presents selected incidents which have occurred in Poland and around the world in recent decades. Based on this, consequences of gas and air mixture explosions were analysed as well. The article presents the main causes of gas incidents which have taken place, as per instances which are similar worldwide. Incidents associated with the use of gas are not frequent, but at the same time very tragic as they often lead to illness or even death. In Poland, in the last twenty years, construction area disasters caused by gas explosions account for only 5% of all which have occurred, but the number of fatalities resulting from these cases is approximately 14%. The number of individuals injured reached 39% of all construction disaster victims. Considering all these facts, it is necessary to undertake wide preventive measures in order to increase safety in the use of gaseous fuels.

In this paper we present the first cases of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2 – GI.2) in Poland. The virus was detected in liver samples of RHD-suspected rabbits from Lodzkie and west Pomeranian voivodeships. In both cases, the typical clinical symptoms of the disease were observed despite the fact that the rabbits were previously vaccinated against RHD. In order to extend the analysis of the RHDV2 strain infecting the rabbits, the entire VP60 and NSP genes were amplified and sequenced. The results of rRT-PCR assay have shown that tested RHDV samples were positive for the presence of RHDV2. In the phylogenetic analysis of vp60gene the first Polish RHDV isolates (RED 2016 and VMS 2017) clustered together with the reference RHDV2, meaning they represent new evolutionary RHDV linkeages. The first Polish RHDV2 isolates showed about 97% nucleotide sequence identity with the reference RHDV2 strains and approximately 18% difference from classic RHDV and RHDVa variants.

We examine how the Polish countryside is changing, in conversation with Prof. Monika Stanny and Prof. Andrzej Rosner from the PAS Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, authors of the Report on Rural Development Monitoring.

Prof. Przemysław Śleszyński from the PAS Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization in Warsaw (author of an extensive study of 122 medium-sized Polish cities) explains why Poland’s midsize cities are facing depopulation.

Dr. Zofia Szweda-Lewandowska of the Warsaw School of Economics discusses the situation of the elderly and their caregivers in Poland.

The aim of this paper was to estimate the gender wage gap in Poland and in the 16 NUTS2 Polish regions in 2010, and to verify the predictions of the spatial monopsony model for Poland with a newly created, harmonized database for wages of individuals in Poland. According to the model, the unexplained part of the gender wage gap, identified with wage discrimination, tend to be lower in regions with more competition between employers.

The results of the analyses performed in this paper show that in more urbanized regions the average wages are higher than in the rural ones. In each of the 16 NUTS2 Polish regions, women earn less than men. Raw differences in wages between men and women are largest in the most urbanized regions but a significant part of the differences in those regions can be explained by differences in workers’ characteristics, especially by different sectoral structure of employment. The part of the gender wage gap which remains unexplained, and in the literature is commonly attached to discrimination, is the highest in rural regions of Eastern Poland in line with the predictions of the spatial monopsony model.

In the public debate, it is argued that Poland avoided a massive drop in output during the 2008/2009 economic crisis in part thanks to substantial nominal zloty’s depreciation against the euro. The Polish case is often contrasted with Slovakia that adopted the euro in January 2009 and, since the Ecofin Council decision in summer 2008, exhibited virtually no nominal exchange rate volatility while facing deep losses in output. In this paper we attempt to validate this contrast by reversing the roles, i.e. checking if Poland really would have faced the same drop – and Slovakia would have remained relatively resilient – if it had been Poland, not Slovakia, that adopted the euro at that point. Our counterfactual simulations based on a New Keynesian DSGE model indicate that, indeed, the Polish tradable output could have been 10‒15 percent lower than actually observed in 2009, while the Slovak one – approximately 20 percent higher. This asymmetry results mainly from structural differences between the two economies, such as size, openness, share of nontradable sector and foreign trade elasticities. The difference of this size would have been short-lived (3‒4 quarters), and the difference of the nontradable output would have been of much lower magnitude.

The issue of air pollution, resulting to a large extent from the use of fossil fuels for energy purposes, is one of the most serious environmental threats in several Polish cities, but also outside of them. The amount of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere translates into the living conditions of the inhabitants. The utilization of geothermal energy, which is a renewable and ecological source of energy, brings noticeable improvement in the quality of atmospheric air, as evidenced by significant ecological effects achieved by working geothermal district heating plants. The paper presents results of comprehensive considerations focused on assessing the effects of utilization of geothermal water and energy in Poland. Issues related to the implementation of exploration works aimed at acquiring geothermal water resources, as well as environmental aspects of the use of geothermal waters and energy were discussed. The undertaken considerations have been directed at assessing whether the use of such a kind of renewable energy resources could have an impact on improving the living conditions of the local community.

The study objective was to understand the character and location of social conflicts in Poland’s soundscape. The analyses were based on a review of press and Internet articles from the years 2008-2015 and reports on noise, preceded by a review of the legal framework of protection against noise in Poland. Questionnaire surveys concerning Poland’s national parks and health resorts and the city of Lublin were an additional source of information. In the case of the former, the surveys were supplemented with a general examination of the acoustic determinants of social conflicts in the Podzamcze district.

An analysis shows that sound in landscape has been a source of more than 100 social conflicts which were most frequently related to unpleasant sounds (noise nuisance) and the right to peace and quiet. The public demands acoustic comfort, one of the determinants of the quality of life. Therefore, it is necessary to know the public opinion on soundscapes (survey of sound preferences). Public consultations concerning the assessment of acoustic disturbance and sound preferences will make it possible to avoid social conflicts arising from insufficient knowledge. A major role is also played by the education of the public and decision-makers through sound awareness campaigns, e.g. as p art of ecology education. The subjective assessment of noise nuisance severity and the acoustic design of public spaces should be an integral part of environmental noise control programmes and revitalisation programmes.

The conducted studies demonstrated that understanding the character and location of social conflicts in soundscape is a major scientific problem. Its resolution requires combining sociological studies (questionnaire for the valuation of the subjective feelings of respondents) with field analyses (observations, acoustic measurements). It is a promising research field that has been developed to a limited extent so far.

The bionomy and ecology of Amphorophora idaei (Bőrn.) on raspberry was studied under insectary conditions and in two rasberry farm plantations in 1997–2002. In 2001 and 2002 the development and fecundity of A. idaei under controlled conditions were also observed.

The Lower Devonian ‘Placoderm Sandstone’ in the Holy Cross Mountains (HCM) is filled with abundant impressions

of disarticulated vertebrate remains. The only acanthodian macroremains named to date are fin spines

of Machaeracanthus polonicus Gürich. Fin spine impressions in slabs from the Winna Formation (Emsian) at

Podłazie Hill (near Daleszyce) in the southern HCM, and also the Barcza Formation (?Lochkovian) at Barcza

Quarry, Miedziana Góra Conglomerate (?Lochkovian), Gruchawka, and Zagórze Formation (middle–upper

Emsian) at Bukowa Mountain in the northern HCM, reposited in the University of Warsaw, Polish Geological

Institute-National Research Institute, Warsaw, and Natural History Museum, London collections, have been cast

and studied in order to better document this poorly known taxon. As noted in other Machaeracanthus species,

we have found that M. polonicus has two different morphotypes of spines, which abut lengthwise to form a pair

of spines. Our investigations show that the fin spine assemblage includes Onchus overathensis as well as M.

polonicus, and probably another undetermined acanthodian. The affinities of O. overathensis are reassessed.

It is here considered to be a diplacanthiform, and reassigned to the genus Striacanthus, as S. overathensis.

Acanthodian scapulocoracoids have also been identified, as well as tightly spiralled toothwhorls which could

be from an acanthodian.

Remains of decapod crustaceans of the family Alpheidae Rafinesque, 1815 and bony fish of the family Gobiidae Bonaparte, 1832 co-occur at a number of localities in the Korytnica Basin (Holy Cross Mountains) and in a newly exposed section along a stream near Niskowa (Outer Carpathians), both in southern Poland. These remains (alpheid major right-sided cheliped tips and gobiid otoliths) are interpreted as documenting a commensal partnership that existed in the shallowest zones of the middle Miocene Fore-Carpathian Basin in southern Poland under environmental conditions that must have been comparable to those of the present-day tropical/ subtropical Indo-West Pacific and Caribbean.

We used chromosome data to verify the taxonomic affiliation of specimens previously recognized as Brachyactis ciliata. All analyzed plants were diploids based on x = 7 (2n = 2x = 14), the basic number characteristic for Symphyotrichum ciliatum, allowing the examined species to be shifted from the genus Brachyactis to the genus Symphyotrichum sect. Conyzopsis. The chromosome number (2n = 2x = 14) for specimens of S. ciliatum from Poland is reported for the first time.