Regional Innovativeness Strategies And Their Impact On Innovativeness Of Provinces In Poland. A Spatio-temporal Analysis

Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) have existed in Poland for almost ten years and in this period they have been developed, accepted and implemented in all provinces. The basic aim of Regional Innovativeness Strategies is to support regional or local authorities and other regional development organizations in defining and implementing an effective system of supporting innovativeness in the region. The current scope of realizing projects connected with RIS is different in particular provinces. The author of the paper attempts to evaluate the effects of implementation of pro-innovativeness solution included in Regional Innovation Strategies with particular consideration of their influence on the growth of region innovativeness level in Poland

BIOGAS PLANTS AS AN ELEMENT OF PROSUMER ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The aim of this study is to assess the situation on the market for biogas plants in the EU, an analysis of the environmental benefits of the construction of agricultural biogas plants and the prospects for the development of this industry in the context of the prosumer energy. In the first part of this article the Authors provide basic information about agricultural production of gas in the European Union (total installed capacity, the number of biogas plants, different types of biogas plants, types of substrates used to feed the Biogas plants). The second part of the study provides an overview of the legislation governing prosumer energy and development of this element of the energy market which is an important and permanent part of the EU energy policy. In the third part of this paper the conducted SWOT analysis shows the strengths and weaknesses of the biogas energy, as well as the opportunities and threats of its further development. The scope of the research covers the period 2007-2015. In order to assess biogas plants market development, the Authors have used elements of multivariate statistical analysis and applied Herfindahl-Hirschman Index assessing the degree of concentration in this market

PROSUMER ENERGY DIFFUSION DETERMINANTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH LOCAL PLANS OF LOW EMISSION - SMOG - REDUCTION

The cognitive focus of the article concerns the measurement and aggregation of relationships between the diffusion of prosumer energy development and the effectiveness of implementing local Plans of Low Emissions Reduction. In this context, the Authors have justified that local actions in the area of low emission prevention (smog - unusual atmospheric phenomenon) are fully converged with the activities of prosumers, producing energy, among others, in order to meet their own needs. On the basis of the literature query and interviews in a group of managers of the energy and environmental management in territorial units - local perspective (in the selected EU country), levels of energy prosumer transformation have been determined in relation to the measures in the scope of low emission prevention.&nbsp

REGIONAL DIVERSIFICATION OF THE LEVEL OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN POLAND

In the modern world economy, the importance of regions and cities in economic development is increasing. In line with the policy of the European Union, efforts to level out regional developmental disparities should be made. Regional development can be explored in terms of social, economic or environmental aspects, satisfaction with the level and quality of life of inhabitants, and development of social capital. The aim of this study is to assess only the current level of economic development and its differentiation in various regions of Poland. Data from the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office from the years 2007-2015 have been used in the analysis. Obtained results will allow to draw conclusions about regional policy in Poland

Innovativeness of Polish economy against other EU countries

W artykule zaprezentowano działania Unii Europejskiej w zakresie wspierania innowacyjności w krajach unijnych. Przedstawiono założenie głównych programów i strategii pobudzania innowacyjności w ramach Siódmego Programu Ramowego (na lata 2007-2013), programu „Horyzont 2020” oraz Strategii Lizbońskiej i programu „Europa 2020”. W artykule, stosując zarówno wskaźniki pośrednie, jak i bezpośrednie, służące do pomiaru innowacyjności, przeprowadzono analizę porównawczą poziomu innowacyjności gospodarki polskiej oraz gospodarek innych krajów Unii Europejskiej. Narzędziem badawczym, które pozwoliło na zrealizowanie tego celu, była analiza głównych składowych.Innovation is a key factor determining the economic development of a country or region. An innovative economy is one in which enterprises are able to create and implement innovation and are allowed to introduce new and improved products, new or changed processes. In an innovative economy institutions implement new organizational and technical solutions or new methods of management. The aim of the paper is to draw a comparison between the levels of innovativeness of the Polish economy and those of other European Union countries. This is done by means of the principal components method, which allows to define important factors determining the innovativeness of the EU economies and to classify the countries according to their level of innovation.Politechnika Częstochowska, Wydział ZarządzaniaGospodarka oparta na wiedzy. Perspektywy Banku Światowego, A. Kukliński (red.), „Rewasz”, Warszawa 2003.Kasperkiewicz W., Aktywność innowacyjna małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw w Polsce – uwarunkowania, instrumenty i tendencje, „Gospodarka w Praktyce i Teorii” 2004, nr 2 (15).Kasperkiewicz W., Kontrowersje wokół nowej gospodarki, [w:] Strategia lizbońska – droga do sukcesu zjednoczonej Europy, A. Budzyńska et al. (oprac.), Urząd Komitetu Integracji Europejskiej, Warszawa 2002.Kozioł K., Modele polityki innowacyjnej w Unii Europejskiej, [w:] Innowacje w działalności przedsiębiorstw w integracji z Unią Europejską, W. Janasz (red.), Difin, Warszawa 2005.Nowak P., Poziom innowacyjności polskiej gospodarki na tle krajów UE, Prace Komisji Geografii Przemysłu, nr 19, Komisja Geografii Przemysłu Polskiego Towarzystwa Geograficznego i Instytut Geografii Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego w Krakowie, Warszawa – Kraków 2012.Sosnowska A., Pojęcie konkurencyjności przedsiębiorstw, [w:] Źródła przewagi konkurencyjnej przedsiębiorstw, A. Sosnowska, K. Poznańska (red.), Szkoła Główna Handlowa, Warszawa 2002.Statystyczne metody analizy danych, W. Ostasiewicz (red.), Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej im. Oskara Langego we Wrocławiu, Wrocław 1999.The First Action Plan for Innovation in Europe, COM (1995) 589.Tuszyński K., Dominujące trendy w unijnej polityce innowacji, [w:] Przedsiębiorczość i innowacyjność małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw – wyzwania współczesności, A. Kaleta, K. Moszkowicz, L. Woźniak (red.), Prace Naukowe Akademii Ekonomicznej im. Oskara Langego we Wrocławiu, nr 1030, Wrocław 2004.Wspólne działania na rzecz wzrostu gospodarczego i zatrudnienia. Nowy początek Strategii Lizbońskiej 2005, Komunikat na wiosenny szczyt Rady Europejskiej, Komunikat przewodniczącego Barroso w porozumieniu z wiceprzewodniczącym Verheugenem, Komisja Europejska, COM (2005) 24, Bruksela.Czopek A. Analiza porównawcza efektywności metod redukcji zmiennych – analiza składowych głównych i analiza czynnikowa, http://www.ue.katowice.pl/uploads/media/1_A.Czopek_Analiza_Porownawcza_Efektywnosci....pdf, data dostępu 15.04.2014 r.European Commission, Innovation Union Scoreboard 2014, European Union, Belgium 2014, http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/files/ius/ius2014_en.pdf, data dostępu 08.04.2014 r.Green Paper on Innovation, http//ica.cordis.lu/documents/documents/docu- mentlibrary/4INL95bookEN.doc, data dostępu 12.09.2011 r.Ministerstwo Gospodarki, Strategia Europa 2020, http://www.mg.gov.pl/Bezpieczenstwo+gospodarcze/Strategia+Europa+2020, data dostępu 15.04.2014 r.Na ile polska gospodarka jest innowacyjna? Materiał na posiedzenie Komisji Gospodarki Narodowej 23 luty 2013, http://ww2.senat.pl/k7/kom/kgn/292/1.pdf, data dostępu 24.03.2014 r.Punkt kontaktowy 7 Programu Ramowego, Horyzont 2020, http://7pr.pb.edu.pl/horyzont-2020/, data dostępu 08.04.2014 r.Punkt kontaktowy 7 Programu Ramowego, 7. Program Ramowy (7PR) Wspólnoty Europejskiej badań, rozwoju technologicznego i wdrożeń (2007-2013), http://7pr.kpk.gov.pl/pliki/6637/7PR_informacja_for_net.pdf, data dostępu 08.01.2008 r.Sokołowski A., Sagan A., Przykłady stosowania analizy danych w marketingu i badaniu opinii publicznej, http://www.statsoft.pl/czytelnia/marketing/adwmarketingu.html, data dostępu 21.11.2013 r.14315

External Potential Modifies Friction of Molecular Solutes in Water

Stokes’s law for the friction of a sphere in water has been argued to work down to molecular scales, provided the effective hydrodynamic radius includes the hydration layer. In interpretations of experiments and in theoretical models, it is tacitly assumed that the solvent friction experienced by a solute does not depend on whether an external confinement potential acts on the solute. Using a novel method to extract the friction memory function from molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the solvent friction of a strongly harmonically confined methane molecule in water increases by 60% compared to its free-solution value, which is caused by an amplification of the slowest component of the memory function. The friction enhancement occurs for potential strengths typical of physical and chemical bonds and is accompanied by a significant slowing-down of the hydration water dynamics. Thus, the solvent friction acting on molecular solutes is not determined by solvent properties and solute-solvent interactions alone but results from the coupling between solute and solvent dynamics and thereby can be tuned by an external potential acting on the solute. This also explains why simulations of positionally constrained solutes do not reproduce free-solution diffusivities. Dynamic scaling arguments suggest similar effects also for macromolecular solutes provided the solution viscosity is sufficiently enhanced

H-index in medicine is driven by original research

Aim To investigate the contribution of selected types of articles to h-indices of medical researchers. Methods We used the Web of Science to export the publication records of various members from 26 scientific medical societies (13 European, 13 North American) associated with 13 medical specialties. Those included were presidents (n = 26), heads of randomly chosen committees (n = 52), and randomly selected members of those committees (n = 52). Publications contributing to h-index were categorized as research articles, reviews, guidelines, metaanalyses, or other published work. Results Overall, 3259 items authored by 129 scholars were analyzed. The median h-index was 19.5. The median contribution of research articles to h-index was 84.4%. Researchers in the upper h-index tercile (≥28.5) had a larger share of research articles that contributed to h-index in comparison with those in the lower h-index tercile (≤12.5) (median 87.3% [1st-3rd quartile: 80.0%-93.1%] vs 80.0% [50.0%- 88.9%], P = 0.015). We observed an analogous difference with regard to guidelines (1.1% [0%-3.7%] vs 0% [0%-0%], P = 0.007). Conclusions Original research drives h-indices in medicine. Although guidelines contribute to h-indices in medicine, their influence is low. The specific role of randomized controlled trials in building h-index in medicine remains to be assessed

Water Structuring Induces Nonuniversal Hydration Repulsion between Polar Surfaces: Quantitative Comparison between Molecular Simulations, Theory, and Experiments

Polar surfaces in water typically repel each other at close separations, even if they are charge-neutral. This so-called hydration repulsion balances the van der Waals attraction and gives rise to a stable nanometric water layer between the polar surfaces. The resulting hydration water layer is crucial for the properties of concentrated suspensions of lipid membranes and hydrophilic particles in biology and technology, but its origin is unclear. It has been suggested that surface-induced molecular water structuring is responsible for the hydration repulsion, but a quantitative proof of this water-structuring hypothesis is missing. To gain an understanding of the mechanism causing hydration repulsion, we perform molecular simulations of different planar polar surfaces in water. Our simulated hydration forces between phospholipid bilayers agree perfectly with experiments, validating the simulation model and methods. For the comparison with theory, it is important to split the simulated total surface interaction force into a direct contribution from surface–surface molecular interactions and an indirect water-mediated contribution. We find the indirect hydration force and the structural water-ordering profiles from the simulations to be in perfect agreement with the predictions from theoretical models that account for the surface-induced water ordering, which strongly supports the water-structuring hypothesis for the hydration force. However, the comparison between the simulations for polar surfaces with different headgroup architectures reveals significantly different decay lengths of the indirect water-mediated hydration-force, which for laterally homogeneous water structuring would imply different bulk-water properties. We conclude that laterally inhomogeneous water ordering, induced by laterally inhomogeneous surface structures, shapes the hydration repulsion between polar surfaces in a decisive manner. Thus, the indirect water-mediated part of the hydration repulsion is caused by surface-induced water structuring but is surface-specific and thus nonuniversal

Application of peripheral nerve conduits in clinical practice: A literature review

Understanding the pathomechanisms behind peripheral nerve damage and learning the course of regeneration seem to be crucial for selecting the appropriate methods of treatment. Autografts are currently the gold standard procedure in nerve reconstruction. However, due to the frequency of complications resulting from autografting and a desire to create a better environment for the regeneration of the damaged nerve, artificial conduits have become an approved alternative treatment method. The aim of this mini-review is to present the nerve scaffolds that have been applied in clinical practice to date, and the potential directions of developments in nerve conduit bioengineering. Articles regarding construction and characterization of nerve conduits were used as the theoretical background. All papers, available in PubMed database since 2000, presenting results of application of artificial nerve conduits in clinical trials were included into this mini-review. Fourteen studies including ≤10 patients and 10 trials conducted on >10 patients were analyzed as well as 24 papers focused on artificial nerve conduits per se. Taking into consideration the experiences of the authors investigating nerve conduits in clinical trials, it is essential to point out the emergence of bioresorbable scaffolds, which in the future may significantly change the treatment of peripheral nerve injuries. Also worth mentioning among the advanced conduits are hybrid conduits, which combine several modifications of a synthetic material to provide the optimal regeneration of a damaged nerve