Raising territorial awareness of the students from Gorzów Wielkopolski county (Poland) as part of geographical and historical education

This article contains selected results of research on the course of geographical regional education and the territorial awareness of pupils in Gorzów county (Western Poland), a region situated on the border with Germany (the Land of Brandenburg). The paper defines the basic concepts and terms, and describes a research tool. Students' knowledge about their own region, the source of this knowledge and the means of its acquisition were set as outcomes. The state of territorial awareness of pupils including its spatial extent and the nature and strength of ties were established. While analyzing the results, the authors highlighted the differences between the declared attitudes of the students of each school, differentiating them due to the stage of education (middle school and high school) and the place (Gorzów Wielkopolski, Kostrzyn nad Odrą and Witnica). It was found, that lessons on regional issues implemented within geography lessons and educational trail such as Regional education – cultural heritage in the region (Edukacja regionalna – dziedzictwo kulturowe w regionie) play an important role and contribute significantly to the mastery of complex knowledge about the region. Beside the formal education about the region a family home is of great importance, especially in terms of shaping forces of territorial ties. Deficiencies in terms of regional education were also highlighted. Due to the nature of this article and its small size authors focuses only on the selected parts of research, in particular the analysis of the diversity of geographical and historical knowledge resources of the surveyed students was omitted

Time Dominance in Classification of Dynamic Structure

The idea of time dominance was formulated about twenty years ago and this term means the greater utility value of one „fact" over the other in every moment of strictly defined period of time. The dominance ranking methods are a direct adaptation of the stochastic dominance ranking methods which are used for choice between two statistical distributions. The first application of time dominance was evaluation of investment projects and then - according to the appropriate utility function -selection of one project of the group of others. But there are also other potential fields of application of time dominance methodology - almost all situations where problems of ranking take place. The simplicity and intelligibility of this method is presented through the example of its application to data connected with the sphere of preservation of environment.Koncepcja dominacji czasowej opracowana została w latach osiemdziesiątych jako adaptacja coraz popularniejszej metody dominacji stochastycznych do kontekstu dynamicznego. Pojęcie dominacji czasowej oznacza większą użyteczność jednego zjawiska w porównaniu z innymi w każdym momencie ściśle określonego przedziału czasu. Pierwszym obszarem zastosowania dominacji czasowej była ocena projektów inwestycyjnych wraz ze wskazaniem - w myśl określonego kryterium - projektu najlepszego. Jednakże zastosowanie metodologii dominacji czasowej może mieć miejsce także w wielu innych sytuacjach - praktycznie wszędzie tam, gdzie pojawia się problem wskazania zjawiska rozwijającego się, zgodnie z założoną przez decydenta funkcją użyteczności, "najlepiej" w badanym czasie. Prostotę stosowania oraz czytelność wyników uzyskiwanych w toku badania dominacji czasowych prezentuje przykład zaczerpnięty z dziedziny ochrony środowiska.Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

The period of intense vegetation growth and maturing of plants in north-western Poland

The objective of the study consisted in determining the changeability of the dates of commencement and termination of the period of intense vegetation growth and the period of maturing of plants in north-western Poland, and also the respective durations thereof. Use was made of data concerning average monthly air temperatures for the years 1966–2015, which were obtained from the collections of the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute. The period of intense vegetation growth has been defined as a period with average daily air temperature of ≥ 10oC, whereas the period of maturing of plants as one with an average daily air temperature of ≥ 15oC. The dates of commencement and termination of the aforementioned periods were determined using mathematical formulae proposed by Gumiński. On average, the period of intense vegetation growth commenced 3 days/10 years earlier and terminated 1 day/10 years later. In turn, the period of maturing of plants commenced on average 2 days/10 years earlier and terminated on average 2 days/10 years later. Research also revealed an increase in the duration of both the period of intense vegetation growth, and the period of maturing of plants in north-western Poland

The investment activity of cities in the context of their administrative status: A case study from Poland

The article attempts to identify and assess the investment activity of major Polish cities, taking into account the division into voivodship cities, remaining the regional capitals, and also the ones which, as a result of public administration system reform, carried out in Poland in the 1990s, lost this function. Based on the group of diagnostic features (city investment expenditure per capita, capital expenditure of cities in relation to their total expenditure, capital expenditure of cities in relation to their own revenues), taxonomic synthetic measures for the studied cities were constructed. The research covered the years 2004 – 2015 – the period of particular investment intensity caused by the inflow of EU funds. It was concluded that even though the city status and revenue potential is, to some extent, determined by its investment activity, there are, however, clear examples showing that the appropriate local policy can modify these determinants

The investment activity of cities in the context of their administrative status: A case study from Poland

The article attempts to identify and assess the investment activity of major Polish cities, taking into account the division into voivodship cities, remaining the regional capitals, and also the ones which, as a result of public administration system reform, carried out in Poland in the 1990s, lost this function. Based on the group of diagnostic features (city investment expenditure per capita, capital expenditure of cities in relation to their total expenditure, capital expenditure of cities in relation to their own revenues), taxonomic synthetic measures for the studied cities were constructed. The research covered the years 2004 – 2015 – the period of particular investment intensity caused by the inflow of EU funds. It was concluded that even though the city status and revenue potential is, to some extent, determined by its investment activity, there are, however, clear examples showing that the appropriate local policy can modify these determinants

The concept of lichen refugia classification. A proposal based on the case study of Krajeńskie Lakeland, Poland

The article presents a proposal for the classification of lichen refuges based on the research conducted in the Krajeńskie Lakeland in 2009-2014. Four types of refuges have been distinguished during the research: 1 - primeval (natural) - associated with the least transformed areas, 2 – regenerative (semi-natural) – with species of high conservation value, spread by natural forces despite a small anthropogenic impact, 3 – colonized (anthropogenic) – solely formed by human activity and extraneously inhabited by adventive lichens, 4 – incidental (spontaneous) – formed instantaneously as a result of a favourable situation or an event. The last type was not found in the course of the study. The publication presents the characteristics of all types of refuges along with a key for their identification

Adam Reinhold Schiewe---A Cross-Border Man of Faith: A Baptist Trailblazer in Estonia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and Russia

This study aimed at compiling a biography of the preacher Adam Reinhold Schiewe (1843–1930). Schiewe ministered in the territories of present-day Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, and Estonia. His historical significance lies primarily in the formal founding of the first Baptist congregation in Estonia. Schiewe wrote memoirs of his life and is featured in a large number of fragmentary, at times even contradictory, sources. The author pointed out the inaccuracies found therein and reconstructed a plausible biography. The study was originally written in Estonian and was supported by a single scholarship from the ESF programme DoRa activity 8

Occurrence of hot days in north-western Poland in the years 1986–2015

The article discusses annual, multi-seasonal and spatial variability of the occurrence of hot days (tmax³30oC) in north-western Poland. The study used meteorological data gathered at ten gauging stations in the years 1986–2015. Calculations were conducted regarding the number of hot days in individual years, which allowed for determining trends of changes. Annual distribution of hot days is presented against months divided into decades. Furthermore, the analysis accounts for the intensity of temperatures at individual stations, as well as length of undisrupted sequences of hot days. The author also took upon himself to indicate air masses that contribute to the occurrence of such days