First Record of Soft Tissue Preservation in the Upper Devonian of Poland

Soft tissue preservation is reported from Upper Devonian deposits of the Holy Cross Mountains, central Poland, for the first time. The preserved soft tissues are muscles associated with arthropod cuticle fragments. The muscles are phosphatized with variable states of preservation. Well-preserved specimens display the typical banding of striated muscles. Other muscle fragments are highly degraded and/or recrystallized such that their microstructure is barely visible. The phosphatized muscles and associated cuticle are fragmented, occur in patches and some are scattered on the bedding plane. Due to the state of preservation and the lack of diagnostic features, the cuticle identification is problematic; however, it may have belonged to a phyllocarid crustacean. Taphonomic features of the remains indicate that they do not represent fossilized fecal matter (coprolite) but may represent a regurgitate, but the hypothesis is difficult to test. Most probably they represent the leftover remains after arthropod or fish scavenging. The present study shows that soft tissues, which even earlier were manipulated by scavenger, may be preserved if only special microenvironmental conditions within and around the animal remains are established

Coincidence of photic zone euxinia and impoverishment of arthropods in the aftermath of the Frasnian-Famennian biotic crisis

The lowermost Famennian deposits of the Kowala quarry (Holy Cross Mountains, Poland) are becoming famous for their rich fossil content such as their abundant phosphatized arthropod remains (mostly thylacocephalans). Here, for the first time, palaeontological and geochemical data were integrated to document abundance and diversity patterns in the context of palaeoenvironmental changes. During deposition, the generally oxic to suboxic conditions were interrupted at least twice by the onset of photic zone euxinia (PZE). Previously, PZE was considered as essential in preserving phosphatised fossils from, e.g., the famous Gogo Formation, Australia. Here, we show, however, that during PZE, the abundance of arthropods drastically dropped. The phosphorous content during PZE was also very low in comparison to that from oxic-suboxic intervals where arthropods are the most abundant. As phosphorous is essential for phosphatisation but also tends to flux off the sediment during bottom water anoxia, we propose that the PZE in such a case does not promote the fossilisation of the arthropods but instead leads to their impoverishment and non-preservation. Thus, the PZE conditions with anoxic bottom waters cannot be presumed as universal for exceptional fossil preservation by phosphatisation, and caution must be paid when interpreting the fossil abundance on the background of redox conditions

Impact of Stripe Shape on the Reflectivity of Monolithic High Contrast Gratings

Monolithic high contrast gratings (MHCGs) composed of a one-dimensional grating patterned in a monolithic layer provide up to 100% optical power reflectance and can be fabricated in almost any semiconductor and dielectric material used in modern optoelectronics. MHCGs enable monolithic integration, polarization selectivity, and versatile phase tuning. They can be from 10 to 20 times thinner than distributed Bragg reflectors. The subwavelength dimensions of MHCGs significantly reduce the possibility of ensuring the smoothness of the sidewalls of the MHCG stripes and make precise control of the shape of the MHCG stripe cross-section difficult during the etching process. The question is then whether it is more beneficial to improve the etching methods to obtain a perfect cross-section shape, as assumed by the design, or whether it is possible to find geometrical parameters that enable high optical power reflectance using the shape that a given etching method provides. Here, we present a numerical study supported by the experimental characterization of MHCGs fabricated in various materials using a variety of common surface nanometer-scale shaping methods. We demonstrate that MHCG stripes with an arbitrary cross-section shape can provide optical power reflectance of nearly 100%, which greatly relaxes their fabrication requirements. Moreover, we show that optical power reflectance exceeding 99% with a record spectral bandwidth of more than 20% can be achieved for quasi-Trapezoidal cross-sections of MHCGs. We also show that sidewall corrugations of the MHCG stripes have only a slight impact on MHCG optical power reflectance if the amplitude of the corrugation is less than 16% of the MHCG period. This level of stripe fabrication precision can be achieved using the most current surface etching methods. Our results are significant for the design and production of a variety of photonic devices employing MHCGs. The flexibility with regard to cross-section shape facilitates the reliable fabrication of highly reflective subwavelength grating mirrors. This in turn will enable the manufacture of monolithically integrated high-quality-factor optical micro-and nanocavity devices

Risk Management : a Supervisory Perspective

W gospodarce rynkowej cykliczność jest naturalną cechą rozwoju gospodarczego a z cyklicznością wiąże się występowanie kryzysów. Dlatego w gospodarce rynkowej kryzysy były, są i będą. Jednak warto podkreślić, że ze względu na kontekst systemowy kolejne kryzysy nie były, nie są i prawdopodobnie nie będą takie same. Doświadczenia globalnego kryzysu z przełomu dekad XXI w. dostarczają kolejnych argumentów na potwierdzenie tej hipotezy. W odniesieniu do zarządzania ryzykiem oznacza to konieczność nie tylko uwzględniania doświadczeń historycznych, ale przewidywanie wyzwań przyszłości. Jakie są najważniejsze cechy współczesności, które kształtują warunki w jakich ryzyko będzie powstawać, w jakich będzie trzeba nim zarządzać? Jak się do nich przygotować, aby stworzyć warunki skutecznego zarządzania ryzykiem?Banks should have action plans in place with respect to foreseeable negative or crisis scenarios in order to, in practice, ensure sufficient time to deal with unforeseeable problems. Financial system regulations must be changed in such a way as to effectively limit moral hazard and eliminate conditions that contribute to its emergence. Problems associated with the further development of finance in a direction that is disconnected from the needs of the real economy, as well as market consolidation Problemy i poglądy 91 that is reflected in the growth of entities that are "too big to fail", and even "too big to be effectively rescued", should be a priority for regulators and policymakers. Sanctions in the form of elimination from the market of entities that take on excessive risk can limit moral hazard and enhance market discipline. In a Euro - pean context, an urgent challenge is to develop methods and procedures for the orderly liquidation of banks (resolution). In terms of introducing corrections to the financial system infrastructure, it is necessary to separate discrete types of activity (particularly intermediation vs. investment and trading operations) in order to limit the exposure of consumer bank deposits to investment or trading risk. It is also desirable, even necessary, to simplify the structure of very large banking groups

Evolution of the European Convention on Human Rights on the example of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour

Przedmiotem niniejszej pracy jest analiza orzecznictwa dotyczącego art. 4 Europejskiej Konwencji Praw Człowieka pod kątem przedstawienia jego ewolucji. Postanowienie to zakazuje szczególnych form wykorzystywania człowieka: niewolnictwa, poddaństwa oraz pracy przymusowej lub obowiązkowej. W pracy tej przedstawiono rozwój orzecznictwa Trybunału z uwzględnieniem szczególnej cechy jaką posiada Konwencja – jest ona nazywana „żyjącym instrumentem” z uwagi na dynamiczną interpretację jej pojęć. Praca strukturalnie składa się z trzech rozdziałów. W pierwszym z nich zawarta została charakterystyka art. 4, sposób jego interpretacji, a także definicje pojęć z ust. 1 oraz 2. W kolejnej części pracy omówione zostały wyjątki ex definitione z ust. 3, które stanowią, co nie jest uznawane za pracę przymusową lub obowiązkową, wraz z orzecznictwem strasburskim w tym zakresie. W ostatnim rozdziale analizie poddane zostały kluczowe orzeczenia z zakresu problematyki art. 4, jak wyrok w sprawie Siliadin, w którym uznano istnienie pozytywnych obowiązków na gruncie tego artykułu oraz po raz pierwszy stwierdzono naruszenie art. 4, czy wyrok w sprawie Rantsev, w którym Trybunał stwierdził, że handel ludźmi również jest zakazany przez art. 4 EKPC.The thesis is an analysis of case law regarding article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights in terms of presenting its evolution. This provision prohibits specific forms of human exploitation: slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour. The thesis presents the evolution of the Court's jurisprudence in light of a special feature of the Convention - it is called a "living instrument" due to the dynamic interpretation of its notions. Structurally, the work consists of three chapters. The first of them contains the characteristics of article 4, the method of its interpretation, as well as the definitions of terms from paragraph 1 and 2. The next part of the work presents the ex definitione exceptions from paragraph 3, which states what is not considered as forced or compulsory labour in the meaning of the Convention, together with the Strasbourg jurisprudence in this regard. The last chapter analyzes key judgments relating to the article 4, such as the judgment in the Siliadin case, which recognized the existence of positive obligations under this article and for the first time found a violation of article 4, or the judgment in the Rantsev case, in which the Court stated that human trafficking is also prohibited by article 4 ECHR

The Theoretical Basis of the Concept of Using the Controlled Pyrotechnical Reaction Method as an Energy Source in Transportation from the Sea Bed

In recent years we have observed the global growing interest in undersea exploitation of mineral deposits. Research on various concepts of operating systems on the seabed has been conducted, where different methods of transporting excavated material from the bottom to the surface are used. Great depths, where there are the most interesting resources (eg. IOM lot for the Clarion-Clipperton 4500 m) set very high technical and technological demands which results in intensive search for solutions. The authors of the paper want to explain the concept of the use of pyrotechnic materials for transportation in the aquatic environment. The presented method is designed for the cyclic transport from great depths (less than 200 m from the seabed). The principle of operation of the relay unit is based on the change in the average density of the entire module which is inseparably connected with the force of buoyancy acting on the submerged body. Changing the density of the whole module to the given depth of immersion is strictly dependent on the amount of energy supplied to the system by a power source in the form of a controlled pyrotechnic reaction. However, during the ascent energy demand decreases. The problem of transport of spoil from depth not only boils down to such considerations as initiation of the process of ascent. One should also consider how to use the excess energy occurring during the movement of the object toward the surface. The authors of the paper present the concept of making the transport of cyclic depths (less than 200 m from the seabed) taking into account the optimal use of energy from controlled pyrotechnic reaction