Witko, Andrzej: Tajemnica: A new anthology of writings on Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas (Tajemnica «Las Meninas». Antologia tekstów)

Diego Vel.zquez’s Las Meninas, painted in 1656, is not just one of the most famous European paintings dating from the Baroque period

Are luminescent bacteria suitable for online detection and monitoring of toxic compounds in drinking water and its sources?

Biosensors based on luminescent bacteria may be valuable tools to monitor the chemical quality and safety of surface and drinking water. In this review, an overview is presented of the recombinant strains available that harbour the bacterial luciferase genes luxCDABE, and which may be used in an online biosensor for water quality monitoring. Many bacterial strains have been described for the detection of a broad range of toxicity parameters, including DNA damage, protein damage, membrane damage, oxidative stress, organic pollutants, and heavy metals. Most lux strains have sensitivities with detection limits ranging from milligrams per litre to micrograms per litre, usually with higher sensitivities in compound-specific strains. Although the sensitivity of lux strains can be enhanced by various molecular manipulations, most reported detection thresholds are still too high to detect levels of individual contaminants as they occur nowadays in European drinking waters. However, lux strains sensing specific toxic effects have the advantage of being able to respond to mixtures of contaminants inducing the same effect, and thus could be used as a sensor for the sum effect, including the effect of compounds that are as yet not identified by chemical analysis. An evaluation of the suitability of lux strains for monitoring surface and drinking water is therefore provided

Application of Wroclaw taxonomy in the analysis of natural conditions stimulating agriculture development in Malopolska Province

Districts of Małopolskie voivodship were described by four indices applied as total in valuation of agricultural quality of production space, i.e. bonitation indices such as: quality and suitability of soil, agriclimate, carving of ground and water conditions. In order to distinguish groups of similar natural conditions influencing development of agricultural production the method of Wroclaw taxonomy was applied. In consequence, four homogenous groups of differentiated size were obtained. The largest group – of 15 districts – cover the most significant part of the voivodship. Districts situated in the area along the mountains constitute a separate group

Applying methods of multidimentional statistical analysis for studying the structure of household expenses

Celem badań było wskazanie analogii w zmianach w strukturze wydatków gospodarstw domowych wybranych krajów UE tj.: Hiszpanii, Portugalii i Grecji oraz Polski na przestrzeni lat 1988-2009. Posługując się zasadą analogii można w ten sposób przewidywać kierunek i tempo zmian w strukturze budżetów polskich gospodarstw domowych. Podziału na klasy podobieństwa dokonano w oparciu o zmodyfikowaną metodę środków ciężkości. Wyodrębniono 3 klasy. Struktura budżetów polskich gospodarstw domowych z lat 2004 – 2008 okazała się najbardziej podobna do struktury wydatków gospodarstw portugalskich z lat 1988-2005.The aim of the study was to show the analogy in the changes in the structure of household expenses in the chosen EU countries and Poland between1988 and 2009. The direction and pace of the changes in the budgets of Polish households can be predicted by using the principle of analogy. Classification of the objects has been carried out based on the modified kmeans method. Three classes of similarities have been distinguished. The structure of Polish households budgets from 2004 – 2008 has turned out the most similar to the structure of the expenses of Portuguese households from 1988 – 2005

Witko, Andrzej: Tajemnica: A new anthology of writings on Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas (Tajemnica «Las Meninas». Antologia tekstów)

Diego Vel.zquez’s Las Meninas, painted in 1656, is not just one of the most famous European paintings dating from the Baroque period

Exploring the Institutional and Bottom-Up Actions for Urban Air Quality Improvement: Case Studies in Antwerp and Gdańsk

The article presents the results of qualitative studies concerning the presence of air quality management in the process of urban planning and in the public discourse in Antwerp, Belgium, and Gdańsk, Poland. We focused on the way urban planners, environmental experts, and stakeholders perceive the problem of air pollution, especially with respect to urban development policy, and whether they consider it one of the major factors determining the quality of the urban built environment. The analysis was empirically based on free, partially structured interviews with experts. With that aim, we referred to certain assumptions of the multidimensional concept of environmental protection and integrated urban planning, highlighting the knowledge gained through interview analysis, literature review, and comparative case study research. The approach brings to light the difference between the perceived and measured air quality and to what extent it is affected by the spatial conditions. The research reveals how the range of perceptions of air pollution is embedded in several sociological, urban planning, and cultural perspectives and how these perceptions differ between the different profiles of the stakeholders and experts

„Wonderful Statuae, not Golden But Costly”. From the History of Villa Regia in Warsaw

In 1643 Andrzej Jarzębski's work „Gościniec albo krotkie opisanie Warszawy” („The Road or a Short Description of Warsaw”) appeared in print. In it Warsaw's appearance and historical monuments were described that existed before the city was destroyed during the Swedish invasion in 1655-1656. One of the most important places in Warsaw in the first half of the 17th century was the royal residence called „Villa Regia” that was built by the Vasas– now it is in the area of the Warsaw University campus. As we learn from Jarzębski's description, it was originally decorated with numerous sculptures and fountains, made both of metal and marble, placed all over the area. Most of those figures were probably brought to Warsaw around 1637 on the occasion of King Władysław IV Vasa's wedding to Archduchess Cecilia Renata that took place in that year. The few preserved sources (e.g. letters of the pope's nuncio to Warsaw, Marius Filonardi) show that many of them were brought to Poland from Italy, perhaps from Florence. In „Gościniec”, among others, the following historical monuments are mentioned: a sculpture representing Hercules defeating the centaur Nessus, a fountain decorated with the figure of Neptune, a fountain decorated with a figure of a child taming a dolphin, a figure of Cupid with a bow placed beside the gutter, and also two sculptures presenting horses, one of which, standing on his hind legs, was being bitten by a snake. The figures of Hercules with the centaur and of Neptune were perhaps made in the circle of Giovani da Bologna's disciples, as in this master's oeuvre we often come across this subject (see Fig. 1-2). In the Tuscany workshop also the fountain decorated with the sculpture of Neptune was probably made. The sculptures of horses probably reminded the ones that Adriaen de Vries created for the residence of the outstanding art patron, Albrecht Waldsztejn in Praga at the beginning of the 17th century (see Fig. 3-4). Both the sources from which the monuments from „Villa Regia” come are very probable. It is well known that in his youth (in the years 1624-1625) Władysław IV visited a lot of Italian cities, among them Florence, acquainting himself with the monuments and artistic collections there. He also made contacts with Albrecht Waldsztejn several times. As it may seem, the sculptures from the royal residence did not only have decorative functions, but they also had symbolic contents. The sculpture of Hercules defeating Nessus could be an allegory of the struggle between good and evil, as well as man's struggle against his own passions and weaknesses. The figure of the putto taming the dolphin may symbolise the mastery of hurry and hastiness, that is the virtue of Discernment. The figures of the two horses: the one stepping quietly and the one being bitten by a snake might be similar to man's two attitudes: keeping to the way of God's commandments and to the way of sin. Most of the figures described by Jarzębski are irretrievably gone. Some of them are probably still lying on the bottom of the Vistula, as the barge on which the Swedes tried to take away from the Polish capital their spoils sank not far from Warsaw. The only preserved figure is the sculpture of the dolphin that was drawn out of the river in 1906. It is now in the Historical Museum of Warsaw (Fig. 6)