Poland’s Integration with the European Union

The present book “Poland – History, Culture and Society. Selected Readings” is the third edition of a collection of academic texts written with the intention to accompany the module by providing incoming students with teaching materials that will assist them in their studies of the course module and encourage further search for relevant information and data. The papers collected in the book have been authored by academic teachers from the University of Łódź, specialists in such fields as history, geography, literature, sociology, ethnology, cultural studies, and political science. Each author presents one chapter related to a topic included in the module or extending its contents. The book contains the extensive bibliography

Social dominance and wheel running in females of Djungarian hamster (Phodopus sungorus)

Wheel running is a behaviour that has a rewarding effect on animals. There are not numerous papers investigating potential relationships between social rank and wheel running in mammals kept in groups, and the majority of published researches were conducted on male house mice (Mus musculus). The aim of our study was to investigate if social dominance and wheel running are related in female Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus). Hamsters were kept in groups, and social position of every animal was expressed as dominance index calculated on the basis of agonistic behaviour. We found significant positive correlation between dominance index and wheel running (rs = 0.809, n = 18, P < 0.0001), thus dominants used wheel more often than subordinates. Our results are consistent with those published on male mice. In conclusion, we claim that in majority of mammals (independent of their sex) kept in groups with restricted possibility of wheel running, dominants use wheel more often (or in optimal time) than subordinates, what is consistent with the fact that dominants have priority of access to resources

New Design Method for the Formed Suction Intake in Axial-Flow Pumps with a Vertical Axis.

A concept of the formed suction intake design obtained with an algorithm for vertical axial-flow pumps is presented. The design methodology is a part of works conducted within project no. N N513 460240 supported by the Polish National Science Center. The proposed procedure is used to optimize intakes. The results of steady flow numerical computations in the suction intake as well as applications of the design optimization in the aspect of fulfilling two objective functions are discussed. The objective functions given by the authors concern the optimal in flow of the fluid into the impeller