Tekst jako obiekt. Panel dramatopisarzy z udziałem Julii Holewińskiej, Marzeny Sadochy i Artura Pałygi

The playwright’s panel took place at the Faculty Council Hall of the Department of Philology of the University of Silesia in Katowice as an event accompanying the national academic conference Writing for the Stage – Narrations of Modern Theatre. Among the invited guests were Julia Holewińska, Marzena Sadocha i Artur Pałyga. The audience and the interlocutors were represented by the conference participants and the academic community. The discussion concentrated around the issues connected with contemporary writing for theatre, and it concerned, among different subjects, the role of the theatrical text in the process of creating a stage production, the ways of writing for the stage and the factors determining various authorial strategies. The playwrights attempted to reflect over their own roles as artists, to define their understanding of theatre, which influences the employed artistic strategies and the manner of working with the text. They shared their thoughts on the aesthetic changes in contemporary theatre, where an increasingly greater role is played by fine arts and media and the directors more and more often share the responsibility for the staging with their co-workers. The discussion also raised the motif of dramatic manifestos, which, once published by playwrights as separate texts, are now woven into the works written for the stage

Towards water-soluble [60]fullerenes for the delivery of siRNA in a prostate cancer model

This paper presents two water-soluble fullerene nanomaterials ( HexakisaminoC60 and monoglucosamineC60, which is called here JK39) that were developed and synthesized as nonviral siRNA transfection nanosystems. The developed two-step Bingel–Hirsch reaction enables the chemical modification of the fullerene scaffold with the desired bioactive fragments such as d-glucosamine while keeping the crucial positive charged ethylenediamine based malonate. The ESI–MS and 13C-NMR analyses of JK39 confirmed its high Th symmetry, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the presence of nitrogen and oxygen-containing C–O or C–N bonds. The efficiency of both fullerenes as siRNA vehicles was tested in vitro using the prostate cancer cell line DU145 expressing the GFP protein. The HexakisaminoC60 fullerene was an efficient siRNA transfection agent, and decreased the GFP fluorescence signal significantly in the DU145 cells. Surprisingly, the glycofullerene JK39 was inactive in the transfection experiments, probably due to its high zeta potential and the formation of an extremely stable complex with siRNA

Avocado production and the environmental and social problems which are involved

Na początku pracy prezentuję podstawowe informacje o awokado i jego uprawach. Przedstawiam m.in. historię awokado, czyli w jaki sposób zyskało ono swoją ogromną popularność na przestrzeni lat. Chodzi tu o najpopularniejsze odmiany, takie jak Hass czy Fuerte. Poruszam także kwestie idealnych warunków przyrodniczych dla uprawy awokado, zwracając uwagę na takie aspekty jak wysokość nad poziomem morza, ilość wody czy uwarunkowania klimatyczne. Następnie w rozdziale trzecim przechodzę do głównego zagadnienia mojej pracy – licznych negatywnych skutków produkcji awokado. W pierwszej części omawiam problemy ekologiczne, skupiając się głównie na gigantycznym zużyciu wody oraz postępującej w błyskawicznym tempie deforestacji. Poruszam również problem związany z używaniem bardzo silnych pestycydów na uprawach, co przynosi niekorzystne skutki. W kwestii problemów społecznych związanych z uprawą awokado, przedstawiam sytuację w meksykańskim stanie Michacan, związaną z kradzieżami i wyłudzeniami pieniędzy pomiędzy plantatorami a upadłymi kartelami narkotykowymi. Przedstawiam również wpływ plantacji awokado na chilijską gminę Petorca, w której ogromne zużycie wody w uprawach tego owocu skutkowało jej niedoborami w zakresie normalnego funkcjonowania i prowadzenia gospodarstw domowych. W ostatnim rozdziale pracy wyjaśniam, skąd pochodzi awokado w najpopularniejszych supermarketach w Krakowie oraz poruszam temat ogromnego śladu węglowego wytwarzanego podczas transportu awokado na znaczne odległości.At the beginning of my paper, I present basic information about avocado and its cultivation. Among other things I present the history of avocado, and how over the years it gained its immense popularity. This includes the most popular varieties such as Hass or Fuerte. Furthermore, I mention the matter of ideal natural conditions for cultivating avocadoes, taking into account such aspects as the altitude, the amount of water used and climatic conditions. Then, in Chapter Three, I turn to the most important aspect of my work – the vast amount of negative effects associated to avocado production. In the first part I discuss the environmental issues, focusing mostly on the enormous use of water and rapidly progressing deforestation. What is mentioned as well is the issue of using very strong pesticides on the crop, which has adverse effect. When it comes to explaining the issues of how avocado production is a source of social problems, I mention theft and extortion between growers and failed drug cartels in the Mexican state of Michacan. I also outline the impact of avocado plantations on the Chilean community of Petorca, where the huge consumption of water in the fruit’s cultivation has resulted in water shortages and disruptions in everyday life for people living there. In the last chapter I explain where avocadoes come from in the most popular supermarkets in Cracow and mention the huge carbon footprint produced when avocadoes are transported over such long distances

Trimming flow, plasticity, and mechanical properties by cubic silsesquioxane chemistry

Abstract In this work, the possibility of managing the rheological and mechanical parameters of composites based on PLA with the use of cubic structures of organofunctional spherosilicates was verified. To accurately observe the effect of various organosilicon modifier substitutions on changes in composites’ properties, we synthesized and used monofunctional octasubstituted derivatives as reference systems. The OSS/PLA systems were tested with concentrations of 0.1–2.5% (w/w) using extrusion to obtain a filament with a diameter of 1.75 mm. The printed samples underwent comprehensive tests including microscopic (SEM–EDS, optical microscope), rheological, thermal (TG, DSC, HDT), mechanical (impact and strength) as well as water contact angle tests. The work is interdisciplinary in nature and combines elements of organosilicon synthesis, materials engineering, and materials processing and characterization technology

Characterisation of carbonate lake sediments as a potential filler for polymer composites

The purpose of the study was to determine whether lake sediments could be a potential raw material for the plastics industry. The examined samples were obtained in a complex process of sediment collection from Lake Swarzędzkie located in the region of Wielkopolska, Poland, followed by granulometric analysis by sieving and quartz grain shape analysis, with preparation of geotechnical sheets. The works involved the examination of physico-chemical characteristics of carbonate lake sediments and the analysis of impact of the sediments’ depth extraction on their chemical composition and physico-chemical properties. The lake sediment consists mainly of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and can be a potential filler for plastics. Tests were carried out to determine chemical composition of the sediments and their thermal stability. The thermogravimetric analysis showed the three stages of the thermal decomposition. Sediments in deeper layers of the lake are characterised by the presence of not only CaCO3 and silica, but also other chemical compounds, including aluminosilicates. In addition, as the depth increases, the average size of sediment particles changes, with the main fraction particle size being the smallest for the material from the 6–12 m depth. Additionally, carbon content systematically decreases with increasing depth

Beeswax as a natural alternative to synthetic waxes for fabrication of PLA/diatomaceous earth composites

Abstract In this study, injection moulding was applied to produce biocomposites consisting of polylactide (PLA) and amorphous diatomaceous earth used as a filler at different concentrations. Natural wax and synthetic wax were added to improve processing properties, comparing the resulting biocomposites. The use of natural beeswax makes the composite environmentally friendly. The prepared composites contained 2.5, 5, 10 and 15% w/w filler. The test samples have been injection moulded. Rheological, mechanical, surface and other properties were assessed for the fabricated composites. The testing has shown that the use of wax additives has a significant influence on the mechanical properties (tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength) and the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of composite surfaces. The addition of natural wax, especially at lower concentration, has a positive effect on the rheological properties of composites (melt flow rate, MFR), flexural modulus and impact strength. Different composite parameters are modified by different wax types so both natural and synthetic waxes, can be used interchangeably, depending on the required final material characteristics

Biocomposites Based on Polyamide 11/Diatoms with Different Sized Frustules

Amorphous diatomite was used as a filler for a thermoplastic polymer of polyamide 11 obtained from natural sources. The diatomite particles of different sizes were previously fractionated by sedimentation to obtain powders with varying particle size distribution, including powders with or without frustule particles, crushed, uncrushed or agglomerated. Biocomposites containing 2.5, 5, 10 and 20% filler were tested for their mechanical properties, including tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength. In addition, a particle size analysis (by Dynamic Light Scattering, DLS) was performed and the dispersion of the filler in the polymer matrix (Scanning Electron Microscopy, SEM), thermal parameters (Differential Scanning Calorimetry, DSC, and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis, DMA) were determined. Testing showed that biocomposites modified with diatomaceous earth have a higher mechanical strength than the reference system, especially with larger amounts of the filler (10 and 20%), e.g., the tensile strength of pure PA11 is about 46 MPa, while 20OB and 20OF 47.5 and 47 MPa, respectively, while an increase in max. flexural strength and flexural modulus is also observed compared to pure PA11 by a maximum of 63 and 54%, respectively Diatomaceous earth can be obtained in various ways—it is commercially available or it is possible to breed diatoms in laboratory conditions, while the use of commercially available diatomite, which contains diatoms of different sizes, eliminates the possibility of controlling mechanical parameters by filling biocomposites with a filler with the desired particle size distribution, and diatom breeding is not possible on an industrial scale. Our proposed biocomposite based on fractionated diatomaceous earth using a sedimentation process addresses the current need to produce biocomposite materials from natural sources, and moreover, the nature of the process, due to its simplicity, can be successfully used on an industrial scale

Effect of Wax Additives and Silanization of Diatom Surfaces on Thermomechanical Properties of Polylactide Composites

In the present study, tests were conducted on high-filled composite samples on a polylactide matrix, modified with diatomaceous earth, three types of silanes, and natural and synthetic wax. The obtained samples were characterized in terms of the effect of modifications on mechanical properties (tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact resistance) or processing properties, e.g., melt flow rate (MFR). The study showed that the modification had a favorable effect on the processing properties of the composites, associated with up to an eight-fold increase in flow rate index compared with the reference sample, especially for samples treated with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMOS), and up to a ten-fold increase under low shear-rate flow conditions. The effect of the addition of waxes of different origins (synthetic and natural) was also determined, and it was shown that beeswax tended to reduce the flow rate of the composites regardless of the silane used. The addition of synthetic wax to composites increased the tendency to agglomerate diatomaceous earth, while natural wax had a positive effect on filler dispersion