The paper reports meiotic studies on 50 populations comprising 12 species belonging to 5 genera of Caryophyllaceae from the Western Himalayas. The chromosome numbers in Arenaria kashmirica (n=20), Silene conoidea (n=20), S. edgeworthii (n=12 and n=24), S. moorcroftiana (n=24), S. nepalensis (n=12), Stellaria media (n=13), S. monosperma (n=13) and S. semivestita (n=13) are reported for the first time. The chromosome numbers in Lychnis coronaria (n=12) and Silene vulgaris (n=24) are given for the first time from India, along with Gypsophilla ceratioides (n=15) from the Western Himalayas. The course of meiosis varies from normal to abnormal in different populations of Silene conoidea, S. edgeworthii, S. vulgaris, Stellaria media, S. monosperma and S. semivestita. The course of meiosis was abnormal in all studied populations of Lychnis coronaria. Abnormal microsporogenesis (cytomixis, chromosomal stickiness, unoriented bivalents, formation of laggards and bridges) led to reduced pollen fertility and differences in pollen grain size.

Chromosome numbers of 46 Hieracium L. and Pilosella Vaill. taxa from Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia are presented. Chromosomes numbers are given for the first time for Hieracium amphigenum Briq. 2n = 3× = 27, H. bohatschianum Zahn 2n = 4× = 36, H. borbasii R. Uechtr. 2n = 4× = 36, H. cernuum Friv. 2n = 2× = 18, H. hazslinszkyi Pax 2n = 3× = 27, H. mirekii Szeląg 2n = 4× = 36, H. polyphyllobasis (Nyár. & Zahn) Szeląg 2n = 3× = 27, H. porphyriticum A. Kern. 2n = 4× = 36, H. racemosum Waldst. & Kit. ex Willd. subsp. racemosum 2n = 3× = 27, H. scardicum Borm. & Zahn 2n = 4× = 36, H. sparsum subsp. ipekanum Rech. fil. & Zahn 2n = 4× = 36, H. sparsum subsp. peristeriense Behr & Zahn, H. sparsum subsp. squarrosobracchiatum Behr & al. 2n = 3× = 27, H. tomosense Simk. 2n = 4× = 36, H. tubulare Nyár. 2n = 4× = 36, H. werneri Szeląg 2n = 3× = 27 and Pilosella fusca subsp. subpedunculata (Zahn) Szeląg, as well as five species of Hieracium sect. Cernua R. Uechtr. not described to date and a hybrid between H. bifidum s. lat. and H. pojoritense Woł

Chromosome numbers for 15 taxa of Hieracium L. s.str. from Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Poland, Romania

and Slovakia are given and their metaphase plates are illustrated. Chromosome numbers are published for the

first time for H. vagneri Pax s.str. (2n = 4x = 36), H. wiesbaurianum subsp. herculanum Zahn (2n = 4x = 36),

H. wiesbaurianum subsp. kelainephes Nyár. & Zahn (2n = 3x = 27), as well as for two undescribed species

of hybrid origin between H. umbellatum L. and H. wiesbaurianum s.lat. (2n = 3x = 27), and between H. sparsum

Friv. and H. schmidtii s.lat. (2n = 3x = 27), and for three undescribed species of the H. djimilense agg.

(2n = 3x = 27), H. heldreichii agg. (2n = 3x = 27), and H. sparsum agg. (2n = 3x = 27). Furthermore, the chromosome

numbers of two undescribed species of hybrid origin between H. umbellatum L. and H. wiesbaurianum

s.lat. (2n = 3x = 27), and between H. sparsum Friv. and H. schmidtii s.lat. (2n = 3x = 27) are given. A new,

tetraploid chromosome number is given for H. barbatum Tausch from the northernmost locality of the species

in Europe.

Our survey of data collected in the Chromosome Number Database for Polish angiosperms indicated that the 1,498 species with chromosome counts represent 40% of the total angiosperms (3,719) occurring in Poland, including 1,205 native species (53% of native species) and 194 anthropophytes (56% of anthropophytes). The chromosome numbers are known for all native species occurring in Poland within 298 genera and 46 families, and for all anthropophytes from 79 genera and 11 families. The remaining angiosperm groups are less explored: chromosome counts from Poland are known for 9% of cultivated species and 5% of ephemerophytes. According to generic basic chromosome numbers, 46.44% of Polish angiosperms have been classified as polyploid. By three different threshold methods, the contribution of polyploid plants to the Polish flora is 64.64%, 50.89% or 42.89%. Polyploidy is more common among indigenous than non-indigenous plants, and the ploidy distribution among plants from the Polish Tatras does not differ significantly from that observed in the rest of native Polish plants.

In the region of the Admiralty Bay 12 nesting bird species were encountered of a total abundance of 40890 pairs and biomass amounting to about 395000 kg Three penguin species constituted 91.7% in abundance, their biomass constituting 98.7% of the whole community. Densities of abundance and biomass of adult birds in relation to the living area of penguins (i.e. 775 km2) ranged from 32.3 to 121.4 indiv. km-2 and from 115.1 to 4730 kg k m-2.

We address one of the weaknesses of the RSA ciphering systems i.e. the existence of the private keys that are relatively easy to compromise by the attacker. The problem can be mitigated by the Internet services providers, but it requires some computational effort. We propose the proof of concept of the GPGPU-accelerated system that can help detect and eliminate users’ weak keys. We have proposed the algorithms and developed the GPU-optimised program code that is now publicly available and substantially outperforms the tested CPU processor. The source code of the OpenSSL library was adapted for GPGPU, and the resulting code can perform both on the GPU and CPU processors. Additionally, we present the solution how to map a triangular grid into the GPU rectangular grid – the basic dilemma in many problems that concern pair-wise analysis for the set of elements. Also, the comparison of two data caching methods on GPGPU leads to the interesting general conclusions. We present the results of the experiments of the performance analysis of the selected algorithms for the various RSA key length, configurations of GPU grid, and size of the tested key set.

The problem considered in the paper is motivated by production planning in a foundry equipped with a furnace and a casting line,

which provides a variety of castings in various grades of cast iron/steel for a large number of customers. The goal is to create the order of

the melted metal loads to prevent delays in delivery of goods to customers. This problem is generally considered as a lot-sizing and

scheduling problem. However, contrary to the classic approach, we assumed the fuzzy nature of the demand set for a given day. The paper

describes a genetic algorithm adapted to take into account the fuzzy parameters of simultaneous grouping and scheduling tasks and

presents the results achieved by the algorithm for example test problem.

Food additives, especially E numbers, are widely perceived by consumers as artificial and harmful. However, the fact is that they are an essential ingredient in numerous products, many have “natural” origins and none of them pose a risk to health.

The article presents the results of analyses of changes in the number of ponds in the Wys-koć catchment basin carried out in the years 1980–2003 and the characteristics of ponds excavated in that period. Only water reservoirs of an area less than 2 ha were considered. Analyses were based on topographic maps in the scale of 1:10 000 and aerial photographs taken in 1996. The results indicated that the number of filled ponds increased, especially those located in fields and grasslands. However, forest and wetland ponds were the most resistant to the processes of quantitative degradation because not even a single pond was filled during the analysed period. Over 70% newly excavated water bod-ies were made as an effect of exploitation of mineral and peat resources. However, nowadays ponds are more often created as a result of intentional human activities and are used for fish farming, recrea-tion and as water retention reservoirs used in irrigation of small agricultural and gardening areas.

The article introduces a new proposal of a defuzzification method, which can be implemented in fuzzy controllers. The first chapter refers to the origin of fuzzy sets. Next, a modern development based on this theory is presented in the form of ordered fuzzy numbers (OFN). The most important characteristics of ordered fuzzy numbers are also presented. In the following chapter, details about the defuzzification process are given as part of the fuzzy controller model. Then a new method of defuzzification is presented. The method is named center of circles intersection (CCI). The authors compare this method with a similar geometric solution: triangular expanding (TE) and geometric mean (GM). Also, the results are compared with other methods such as center of gravity (COG), first of maxima (FOM) and last of maxima (LOM). The analysis shows that the proposed solution works correctly and provides results for traditional fuzzy numbers as well as directed fuzzy numbers. The last chapter contains a summary, in which more detailed conclusions are provided and further directions of research are indicated.

Chromosome numbers for 15 taxa of Hieracium s.lat. (including two taxa of Pilosella Vaill.) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia are given and their metaphase plates are illustrated. Chromosome numbers are published for the first time for H. pannosum subsp. parnassi Nägeli & Peter from Greece (3x and 4x), and for an undescribed species of H. sect. Cernua from North Macedonia (4x). A new, diploid chromosome number was found in H. bracteolatum s.lat. from Greece.

In November 1994 a first inventory of Tanaidacea from the Beagle Channel and at some stations of the Atlantic continental shelfwas obtained using epibenthic sledge samples. In total, 2175 specimens from 27 species of eight families of Tanaidomorpha and two families of Apseudomorpha were collected. Two species, Allotanais hirstutus (Beddard, 1886) and Apseudes heroae Sieg, 1986, strongly dominated this area. Generally low diversity and abundances were recorded for the western area of the Beagle Channel, while substantially higher values were reported at the eastern entrance on the Atlantic side of the Beagle Channel. Abundances slightly varied with depths, but not significantly.

Overseas mining investment generally faces considerable risk due to a variety of complex risk factors. Therefore, indexes are often based on conditions of uncertainty and cannot be fully quantified. Guided by set pair analysis (SPA) theory, this study constructs a risk evaluation index system based on an analysis of the risk factors of overseas mining investment and determines the weights of factors using entropy weighting methods. In addition, this study constructs an identity-discrepancycontrary risk assessment model based on the 5-element connection number. Both the certainty and uncertainty of the various risks are treated uniformly in this model and it is possible to mathematically describe and quantitatively express complex system decisions to evaluate projects. Overseas mining investment risk and its changing trends are synthetically evaluated by calculating the adjacent connection number and analyzing the set pair potential. Using an actual overseas mining investment project as an example, the risk of overseas mining investment can be separated into five categories according to the risk field, and then the evaluation model is quantified and specific risk assessment results are obtained. Compared to the field investigation, the practicability and effectiveness of the evaluation method are illustrated. This new model combines static and dynamic factors and qualitative and quantitative information, which improves the reliability and accuracy of risk evaluation. Furthermore, this evaluation method can also be applied to other similar evaluations and has a certain scalability.

In this paper, investigation of the effect of Reynolds number, nanoparticle volume ratio, nanoparticle diameter and entrance temperature on the convective heat transfer and pressure drop of Al2O3/H2O nanofluid in turbulent flow through a straight pipe was carried out. The study employed a computational fluid dynamic approach using single-phase model and response surface methodology for the design of experiment. The Reynolds average Navier-Stokes equations and energy equation were solved using k-" turbulent model. The central composite design method was used for the response-surface-methodology. Based on the number of variables and levels, the condition of 30 runs was defined and 30 simulations were performed. New models to evaluate the mean Nusselt number and pressure drop were obtained. Also, the result showed that all the four input variables are statistically significant to the pressure drop while three out of them are significant to the Nusslet number. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis carried out showed that the Reynolds number and volume fraction have a positive sensitivity to both the mean Nusselt number, and pressure drop, while the entrance temperature has negative sensitivities to both.