Estimation of Population Size of Dentaria Enneaphyllos in the Vicinity of the Bełchatów Brown Coal Mine and the Attempt of its Metaplantation

The impact of anthropopressure on the flora in the vicinity of the Bełchatów Brown Coal Mine in Central Poland has been substantially strong. Consequently, certain changes in habitat conditions have been observed, leading to a decline in particular species stands. Mechanical damage, as well as the mine and power plant expansion have contributed to further species decline in the area. Ex situ conservation, e.g. metaplantation from native to secondary localities seems an efficient method of ensuring the species survival in the local flora. One of the species is to be found in Wola Wydrzyna (under the Forest District Administration of Bełchatów) is Drooping Bittercress Dentaria enneaphyllos. Its population was first recorded in the area in 1979. However, since 2009 the forest complex has undergone a regular expansion of the Bełchatów Brown Coal Mine. The forest area is to be utilised for the future Szczerców coal deposit. Therefore, in 2000 the method of Dentaria enneaphyllos metaplantation was applied

New Science Gateways for Advanced Computing Simulations and Visualization Using Vine Toolkit in PL-Grid

A Science Gateway is a connection between scientists and their computational tools in the form of web portal. It creates a space for communities, collaboration and data sharing and visualization in a comprehensive and efficient manner. The main purpose of such a solution is to allow users to access the computational resources, process and analyze their data and get the results in a uniform and user friendly way. In this paper we propose a complex solution based on the Rich Internet Application (RIA) approach consisting of a web portal powered by Vine Toolkit with Adobe Flex/BlazeDs technologies. There are two Science Gateways described in detail one for engineers to manage computationally intensive workflows used in advanced airplane construction simulations, and one for nanotechnology scientists to manage experiments in nano-science field calculated with Density Functional Theory (DFT). In both cases the results show how modern web solution can help scientists in their work. &nbsp

Carotid arteries remodelling in chronic kidney diseae

Wstęp. Przewlekła choroba nerek (CKD) jest stanem zwiększonego ryzyka sercowo-naczyniowego. Chorobowość i śmiertelność sercowo-naczyniowa wzrasta wraz ze zmniejszeniem filtracji kłębuszkowej (GFR). U dializowanych pacjentów stwierdzono przyspieszony rozwój miażdżycy, zwiększoną sztywność tętnic oraz zwapnienia ściany tętnic. Mniej danych dotyczy przebudowy tętnic u chorych z CKD, których nie dializowano. Celem niniejszej pracy była ocena struktury tętnic szyjnych (CA) u pacjentów z CKD, ich przebudowy w okresie rocznej obserwacji oraz związku z czynnikami ryzyka sercowo-naczyniowego. Materiał i metody. U 34 pacjentów z CKD oraz u 18 zdrowych osób wykonano badanie ultrasonograficzne CA z oceną grubości kompleksu intima-media (IMT) oraz rozkurczowego (CAd) i skurczowego (CAs) wymiaru wewnętrznego CA. Następnie obliczono względną grubość ściany (2*IMT/CAd), różnicę między średnicą skurczową i rozkurczową (DD = CAs – CAd) oraz współczynnik rozciągliwości: DC = 2( DD/CAd)/PP, gdzie PP oznacza ciśnienie tętna. Wyniki. U chorych z CKD stwierdzono większą średnicę CA oraz pogrubienie IMT, natomiast względna grubość ściany i DC nie różniły się znamiennie z grupą kontrolną. Odnotowano znamienne statystycznie dodatnie korelacje między IMT a wiekiem, ciśnieniem tętniczym skurczowym, stężeniem glukozy na czczo oraz stężeniem białka C-reaktywnego (CRP). Odnotowano również dodatnie korelacje CAd z wiekiem, stężeniem glukozy na czczo oraz CRP. Nie dowiedziono natomiast korelacji między badanymi parametrami ultrasonograficznymi a GFR. Wnioski. U 20 chorych przeprowadzono ponowną ocenę po 12 miesiącach. Stwierdzono znamienne zmniejszenie DC tętnic szyjnych przy braku zmian średnicy naczynia ani grubości IMT. Wyniki badania wskazują, że niekorzystna przebudowa tętnic rozpoczyna się we wczesnych stadiach CKD. Stan zapalny i zaburzenia metabolizmu glukozy wiążą się z przebudową tętnic szyjnych w przewlekłej chorobie nerek.Background. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a state of increased cardiovascular risk. Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality increases with the decline in glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Accelerated atherosclerosis, increased arterial stiffness and arterial wall calcification were revealed in dialysis patients. Less is known about arterial remodelling in non-dialysed CKD patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate carotid arteries (CA) structure in CKD patients, arterial remodelling during 1-year follow-up and its relationship with cardiovascular risk factors. Material and methods. Ultrasound duplex-scan of carotid arteries was performed in 34 CKD patients and 18 healthy volunteers. Carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), CA internal diastolic (CAd) and systolic diameter (CAs) were measured. Relative wall thickness (2*IMT /CAd), difference between systolic and diastolic diameter (ΔD = CAs – CAd) and distensibility coefficient: DC = 2 (ΔD/CAd)/PP (PP = pulse pressure) were subsequently calculated. Results. In CKD patients we found: increased CA diameter and increased IMT compared with the control group, while relative wall thickness and DC did not differ significantly. Significant positive correlations were found between IMT and: age, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration. Also significant positive correlations were found between CAd and: age, fasting blood glucose and CRP. No correlation was found between CA structure and GFR. Twenty patients were evaluated again after 12 months follow-up. We found significant decrease in DC, while CA diameter and IMT did not change significantly. Conclusions. Our results indicate that unfavourable arterial remodelling starts in early stages of CKD. Inflammation and glucose metabolism disturbances are associated with carotid artery remodelling in CKD patients

The ESCAPE project : Energy-efficient Scalable Algorithms for Weather Prediction at Exascale

In the simulation of complex multi-scale flows arising in weather and climate modelling, one of the biggest challenges is to satisfy strict service requirements in terms of time to solution and to satisfy budgetary constraints in terms of energy to solution, without compromising the accuracy and stability of the application. These simulations require algorithms that minimise the energy footprint along with the time required to produce a solution, maintain the physically required level of accuracy, are numerically stable, and are resilient in case of hardware failure. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) led the ESCAPE (Energy-efficient Scalable Algorithms for Weather Prediction at Exascale) project, funded by Horizon 2020 (H2020) under the FET-HPC (Future and Emerging Technologies in High Performance Computing) initiative. The goal of ESCAPE was to develop a sustainable strategy to evolve weather and climate prediction models to next-generation computing technologies. The project partners incorporate the expertise of leading European regional forecasting consortia, university research, experienced high-performance computing centres, and hardware vendors. This paper presents an overview of the ESCAPE strategy: (i) identify domain-specific key algorithmic motifs in weather prediction and climate models (which we term Weather & Climate Dwarfs), (ii) categorise them in terms of computational and communication patterns while (iii) adapting them to different hardware architectures with alternative programming models, (iv) analyse the challenges in optimising, and (v) find alternative algorithms for the same scheme. The participating weather prediction models are the following: IFS (Integrated Forecasting System); ALARO, a combination of AROME (Application de la Recherche a l'Operationnel a Meso-Echelle) and ALADIN (Aire Limitee Adaptation Dynamique Developpement International); and COSMO-EULAG, a combination of COSMO (Consortium for Small-scale Modeling) and EULAG (Eulerian and semi-Lagrangian fluid solver). For many of the weather and climate dwarfs ESCAPE provides prototype implementations on different hardware architectures (mainly Intel Skylake CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs, Intel Xeon Phi, Optalysys optical processor) with different programming models. The spectral transform dwarf represents a detailed example of the co-design cycle of an ESCAPE dwarf. The dwarf concept has proven to be extremely useful for the rapid prototyping of alternative algorithms and their interaction with hardware; e.g. the use of a domain-specific language (DSL). Manual adaptations have led to substantial accelerations of key algorithms in numerical weather prediction (NWP) but are not a general recipe for the performance portability of complex NWP models. Existing DSLs are found to require further evolution but are promising tools for achieving the latter. Measurements of energy and time to solution suggest that a future focus needs to be on exploiting the simultaneous use of all available resources in hybrid CPU-GPU arrangements

The ESCAPE project: Energy-efficient Scalable Algorithms for Weather Prediction at Exascale

Abstract. In the simulation of complex multi-scale flows arising in weather and climate modelling, one of the biggest challenges is to satisfy strict service requirements in terms of time to solution and to satisfy budgetary constraints in terms of energy to solution, without compromising the accuracy and stability of the application. These simulations require algorithms that minimise the energy footprint along with the time required to produce a solution, maintain the physically required level of accuracy, are numerically stable, and are resilient in case of hardware failure. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) led the ESCAPE (Energy-efficient Scalable Algorithms for Weather Prediction at Exascale) project, funded by Horizon 2020 (H2020) under the FET-HPC (Future and Emerging Technologies in High Performance Computing) initiative. The goal of ESCAPE was to develop a sustainable strategy to evolve weather and climate prediction models to next-generation computing technologies. The project partners incorporate the expertise of leading European regional forecasting consortia, university research, experienced high-performance computing centres, and hardware vendors. This paper presents an overview of the ESCAPE strategy: (i) identify domain-specific key algorithmic motifs in weather prediction and climate models (which we term Weather & Climate Dwarfs), (ii) categorise them in terms of computational and communication patterns while (iii) adapting them to different hardware architectures with alternative programming models, (iv) analyse the challenges in optimising, and (v) find alternative algorithms for the same scheme. The participating weather prediction models are the following: IFS (Integrated Forecasting System); ALARO, a combination of AROME (Application de la Recherche à l'Opérationnel à Meso-Echelle) and ALADIN (Aire Limitée Adaptation Dynamique Développement International); and COSMO–EULAG, a combination of COSMO (Consortium for Small-scale Modeling) and EULAG (Eulerian and semi-Lagrangian fluid solver). For many of the weather and climate dwarfs ESCAPE provides prototype implementations on different hardware architectures (mainly Intel Skylake CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs, Intel Xeon Phi, Optalysys optical processor) with different programming models. The spectral transform dwarf represents a detailed example of the co-design cycle of an ESCAPE dwarf. The dwarf concept has proven to be extremely useful for the rapid prototyping of alternative algorithms and their interaction with hardware; e.g. the use of a domain-specific language (DSL). Manual adaptations have led to substantial accelerations of key algorithms in numerical weather prediction (NWP) but are not a general recipe for the performance portability of complex NWP models. Existing DSLs are found to require further evolution but are promising tools for achieving the latter. Measurements of energy and time to solution suggest that a future focus needs to be on exploiting the simultaneous use of all available resources in hybrid CPU–GPU arrangements

Design status of ASPIICS, an externally occulted coronagraph for PROBA-3

The "sonic region" of the Sun corona remains extremely difficult to observe with spatial resolution and sensitivity sufficient to understand the fine scale phenomena that govern the quiescent solar corona, as well as phenomena that lead to coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which influence space weather. Improvement on this front requires eclipse-like conditions over long observation times. The space-borne coronagraphs flown so far provided a continuous coverage of the external parts of the corona but their over-occulting system did not permit to analyse the part of the white-light corona where the main coronal mass is concentrated. The proposed PROBA-3 Coronagraph System, also known as ASPIICS (Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric and Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun), with its novel design, will be the first space coronagraph to cover the range of radial distances between ~1.08 and 3 solar radii where the magnetic field plays a crucial role in the coronal dynamics, thus providing continuous observational conditions very close to those during a total solar eclipse. PROBA-3 is first a mission devoted to the in-orbit demonstration of precise formation flying techniques and technologies for future European missions, which will fly ASPIICS as primary payload. The instrument is distributed over two satellites flying in formation (approx. 150m apart) to form a giant coronagraph capable of producing a nearly perfect eclipse allowing observing the sun corona closer to the rim than ever before. The coronagraph instrument is developed by a large European consortium including about 20 partners from 7 countries under the auspices of the European Space Agency. This paper is reviewing the recent improvements and design updates of the ASPIICS instrument as it is stepping into the detailed design phase

The institution of instigating and reopening discontinued preparatory proceedings as a method to terminate proceedings because of detection activities undertaken by the Police X Archives

The institutions of reopening and instituting discontinued preparatory proceedings are of the key importance as regards a possibility of returning to criminal proceedings already finished. Principles of criminal proceedings deciding how to conduct them in certain circumstances force completion of the proceedings at a given stage. Sometimes this is due to the appearance of a relative, therefore removable, negative procedural condition, sometimes due to the impossibility of detecting perpetrators of the offence. It is therefore crucial to establish what conditions to return to the discontinued preparatory proceedings are. Is it possible? What is the time frame for a decision to be made? This study provides answers to the problems identified, focusing obviously on the procedural conditions of admissibility of the return to criminal proceedings. The rules have been laid down in the law system according to the time of proceedings completion. The article also presents such elements as bodies authorised to act, conditions of the prosecutor’s operations, a role and a place of the Police in the decision-making system. The mentioned elements are an attempt to locate these particular institutions in the system of revealing some old crimes committed by perpetrators not yet disclosed.Instytucja wznowienia i podjęcia umorzonego postępowania przygotowawczego mają kluczowe znaczenie w zakresie możliwości powrotu do zakończonego postępowania karnego. Zasady postępowania karnego, decydujące o sposobie jego prowadzenia, w pewnych stanach faktycznych wymuszają zakończenie postępowania na danym etapie. Czasami wynika to z pojawienia się względnej, a więc usuwalnej negatywnej przesłanki procesowej, czasami zaś z niemożności wykrycia sprawców przestępstwa. Kluczowe jest zatem ustalenie, jakie są warunki powrotu do zakończonego postępowania przygotowawczego. Czy jest to możliwe? Jaki jest zakres czasowy możliwej do podjęcia decyzji? W niniejszym artykule zostaje udzielona odpowiedź na te pytania. Skoncentrowano się przy tym na procesowych warunkach dopuszczalności powrotu do postępowania karnego. Omówiono zasady dotyczące wznowienia i podjęcia umorzonego postępowania w zależności od momentu jego zakończenia, a także organy uprawnione do działania, warunki działania prokuratora, rolę i miejsce Policji w systemie podejmowania decyzji. Powyższe elementy stanowią próbę umiejscowienia tych instytucji szczególnych w systemie ujawniania starych zbrodni popełnionych przez nieujawnionych sprawców

Introduction of materials from operational and reconnaissance activities containing professional secrets due to intertemporal rules into the preparatory proceedings

Obtaining evidence during criminal proceedings involves a number of activities that should be carried out by a prosecutor so that they are legally permissible. The legislator anticipated special provisions in the field of obtaining evidence outside criminal proceedings. In the course of the operational activities carried out by special bodies (Police) it is possible to control inter alia telephone calls. The introduction of evidence from these recordings is regulated in a special way. In certain situations, the legislator provided additional restrictions on obtaining evidence especially when it is connected with highly protected professional secrets – art. 180 § 2 of the [Polish] penal procedure code. This article outlines the mentioned issues.Pozyskiwanie dowodów w toku postepowania karnego wiąże się z szeregiem czynności, które winny zostać wykonane tak, aby były one prawnie dopuszczalne. Szczególne unormowania ustawodawca przewidział w zakresie pozyskiwania dowodów poza postępowaniem karnym. W toku czynności operacyjno-rozpoznawczych prowadzonych przez organy szczególne możliwe jest dokonywanie kontroli między innymi rozmów telefonicznych. Wprowadzenie dowodów z tych nagrań uregulowane jest w sposób szczególny. W pewnych sytuacjach ustawodawca przewidział dodatkowe obostrzenia w zakresie uzyskiwania dowodów wówczas, gdy dotyczy to tajemnic zawodowych szczególnie chronionych – art. 180 § 2 k.p.k. Niniejsze opracowanie przedstawia wskazaną problematykę