Management of mineral deposits, based on the example of ŁKB "Księginki" SA

W artykule, na przykładzie kopalni bazaltu, przedstawiono zagadnienia związane ze zwiększeniem zasobów eksploatowanych złóż, zmiany koncentracji majątku, struktur zarządzania oraz jakości produktów w okresie transformacji gospodarczej w latach 1989-2009. Opisano stan ważniejszych aktywów geologiczno-górniczych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem zmian: bazy zasobowej (dokumentowanie złóż, zakup kopalni), modernizacji parku maszynowego, wdrażania innowacyjnych technologii oraz działań na rzecz środowiska naturalnego. W wyniku tych zmian są produkowane i dostarczane na krajowy rynek jakościowo nowe kruszywa wg wymagań norm PN-EN. Łużycka Kopalnia Bazaltu "Księginki" SA powstała w 2001 roku jako spółka pracownicza w wyniku prywatyzacji przedsiębiorstwa państwowego. Aktualnie prowadzona jest działalność produkcyjna w trzech (oddziałach) kopalniach eksploatujących złoża: "Księginki Północ", "Księginki I" oraz "Bukowa Góra" o łącznych zasobach 123 mln Mg bazaltu.This paper, basing on the example of the basalt quarry, describes various issues related to increasing the quantity of the resources of exploited mineral deposits, change of property concentration, management activities and the types of products offered in the period of economic transformation in the years 1989-2009. State of important geological-mining assets especially connected with changes of: resources of deposits (documentation of deposits, purchase of quarry), restructuring of machinery, implementation of innovative technologies and activities for natural environment were described. In the results of these changes, new qualitative mineral aggregates by PN-EN standards are being produced and supply on the market. Lusatian Basalt Quarry "Księginki" JSC in Lubań was established in 2001 as a worker cooperative, in the result of privatization of state-owned undertaking. Currently, productive activity in three quarries operating on the deposits: Księginki Północ, Księginki I and Bukowa Góra (total basalt reserves about 123 Mt) is being realised

Underground coal gasification - unfulfilled expectations of resources base recovery

Wrocławski Oddział Stowarzyszenia Inżynierów i Techników Górnictwa z Wydziałem Geoinżynierii, Górnictwa i Geologii Politechniki Wrocławskiej (poprzednio z Instytutem Górnictwa) organizują coroczną konferencję naukowo-techniczną z zakresu górnictwa kruszywowego. Od piętnastu lat uczestniczy w niej około 250 przedstawicieli wyższych uczelni, instytutów badawczych, przemysłu górniczego oraz dostawców maszyn i urządzeń dla tej branży. Tematyka konferencji realizowana jest przy ścisłej współpracy z Instytutem Mechanizacji Budownictwa i Górnictwa Skalnego w Warszawie i Polskim Związkiem Producentów Kruszyw

Innovative solutions for the exploitation of rock minerals

W artykule przedstawiono ważniejsze dane dotyczące innowacyjnych rozwiązań eksploatacji krajowych kopalin skalnych. Podano struktury zasobów i wielkości wydobycia tych kopalin w latach 2002–2016. Opisano nowoczesne techniki wydobywania i przeróbki kopalin o podstawowym znaczeniu dla budownictwa i drogownictwa. Skoncentrowano się na dwóch grupach surowcowych: kopalin okruchowych (piaskach i żwirach) oraz kamieniach łamanych i blocznych ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem produkcji kruszyw łamanych oraz granitowych elementów blocznych.The article presents more important data on innovative solutions for exploitation of domestic rock minerals. Resources structure and volume of these minerals output were reported in 2002-2016. Modern techniques of mining and processing of minerals, essential for building and highway engineering, have been described. The focus was on two groups of raw materials: aggregates (sand and gravel) and crushed and dimension stones, with particular focus on the production of crushed aggregates and granite dimension stone elements

Relationship between physical activity, body fatness and cardiorespiratory fitness in South African adolescents: The PAHL Study

Low cardiorespiratory fitness and inactivity are strong health predictors associated with excessive fatness. The objective of this study was to determine the associations between physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness and body fatness in South African adolescents. A cross-sectional study was performed with a subsample of 149 school-going adolescents (58 boys and 91 girls) with a mean age of 15.7 ± 0.8 years whom were participating in the Physical Activity and Health Longitudinal Study (PAHLS). Body mass, height, and skinfolds were assessed according to the standards of the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). Subsequently, body mass index (BMI) and percentage of body fat (%BF) were calculated. Cardiorespiratory fitness was derived from predicted VO2max, and PA assessed by combined heart rate and accelerometry (ActiHeart®, CamNTech). Physical activity was classified according to activity categories. Out of 149 participants, 100 (67.1%) had normal body mass; 26 (17.5%) were underweight and 23 (15.4%) were overweight. Seventeen (18.7%) girls and six (10%) boys were overweight or obese. The prevalence of underweight in boys was 29.3% and 9.9% in girls. A total of 102 (68.5%) participants were sedentary and 47 (31.5%) were active. The overweight group was significantly (p<0.05) heavier and fatter than the underweight and the normal groups. The lowest performance for predicted VO2max was found in the overweight adolescents. A significant positive relationship was found between BMI and PA in girls (ß=0.01 [95%CI: 0.007; 0.019]). A significant negative associations (p<0.05) was found between BMI and VO2max, (Boys; ß= -0.31 [95%CI: -0.50; -0.19]; Girls; ß= -0.17 [95%CI: -0.33; -0.02]). In conclusion, overweight adolescents were mainly sedentary and performed poorly in cardiorespiratory fitness compared to their underweight peers. Low cardiorespiratory fitness performance was negatively associated with relatively high fatness. School-based PA programmes are needed to reduce relatively high body fatness and improve cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents.Keywords: Cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, body fatness, overweight, adolescents

Leukocyte telomere length is not reduced in children and adults with cystic fibrosis but associates with clinical characteristics:a cross-sectional study

Abstract We hypothezied that telomere length is considerably altered in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients compared to healthy subjects (HS), and that leukocyte telomere length variation reflects the severity of CF. Relative telomere length (RTL) was assessed by qPCR in 70 children aged 5–10 (34 CF; 36 HS) and 114 adults aged 18–45 (53 CF; 61 HS). Telomere length was similar in CF and HS (median (interquartile range): 0.799 (0.686–0.950) vs. 0.831 (0.707–0.986); p = 0.5283) both in children and adults. In adults, women had longer telomeres than men (0.805 (0.715–0.931) vs. 0.703 (0.574–0.790); p = 0.0002). Patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids had a shorter RTL compared to those without steroid therapy (0.765 (0.664–0.910) vs. 0.943 (0.813–1.191); p = 0.0007) and this finding remained significant after adjusting for gender, age, BMI, and child/adult status (p = 0.0003). Shorter telomeres were independently associated with the presence of comorbidities (0.763 (0.643–0.905) vs. 0.950 (0.783–1.130); p = 0.0006) and antibiotic treatment at the moment of blood sampling (0.762 (0.648–0.908) vs. 0.832 (0.748–1.129); p = 0.0172). RTL correlated with number of multiple-day hospitalizations (rho = −0.251; p = 0.0239), as well as number of hospitalization days (rho = −0.279; p = 0.0113). Leukocyte RTL in children and adults with CF was not shorter than in healthy controls, and did not seem to have any potential as a predictor of CF survival. However, it inversely associated with the investigated clinical characteristics