Culture defence strategy in the context of the debate over multiculturalism

The main aim of this article is to introduce the concept of culture/cultural defence into the framework of current debates over multiculturalism. Culture defence is a rela-tively new legal strategy, which seeks to strengthen its own position as a formal strategy in criminal law, mainly in the common law system. It is based on the cognitive assump-tion that culture affects individuals’ perception of social reality to that extent that indi-viduals could lack the capacity to act with the full ignorance of culturally given norms. The concept of culture defence will be juxtaposed to the different approaches to multicul-turalism itself: to the concept of John Rawls’s theory of justice, to the concept of politics of difference as introduced by Charles Taylor, and to the politics of multiculturalism proposed by Will Kymlicka. This article reveals the question of legitimacy of culture defence as a crucial question bounded up with political philosophy, not exclusively em-braced by the philosophy of law

Za ekonomickou agendou : smerom k normatívnej dimenzii paradiplomacie

The phenomenon of paradiplomacy, broadly referring to external activities of sub-state governments and embracing to a lesser or greater extent the elements defining foreign policy, gains an interest of experts from various academic disciplines. Yet, over the recent years, with some exceptions, the academic literature has been more preoccupied with investigation of economic dimensions of paradiplomacy when compared with investigation of normative-oriented issues. The objective of this article is to analyse the potential of the sub-national actors paradiplomatic activities in the field of development assistance. The articles adopts an exploratory research design and it based theoretically on the studies on paradiplomacy. It looks at the particular examples of sub-state governments from the EU countries. The results show that despite little attention concerning the problem, the local governments go through the process of an ongoing institutionalization of their activities in development assistance as they have launched their own development aid programmes, manage local budgets for development aid, and established administrative bodies in charge of conducting development aid programmes. Due to such institutionalization of development assistance policy, sub-state governments are capable of establishing and developing bilateral and multilateral relations with third parties, both state and non-state actors, confirming that they are politically and economically adequately resourced

Biopolityczna przestrzeń bezpieczeństwa w Globalnej Wojnie z Terroryzmem

The article analyzes the spaces of security produced by the American administration after 9/11 through the lenses of the concept of biopolitics, as delivered by French philosopher Michel Foucault. The main aim of this article is to reveal interconnections between the population-centric notion of biopolitcs, practices of liberal governmentality and security per se. As a tangible example of that linkage there will be introduced the process of borders enhancement, which operating through the biometric technologies of risk management produces the so-called Smart Borders. In the biopolitical context, the result of Smart Borders was the reduction of negative elements in the circulation of goods in the security space.Artykuł stanowi analizę przestrzeni bezpieczeństwa budowanej przez administrację amerykańską po 11 września 2001 r. przez pryzmat koncepcji biopolityki Michela Foucault. Celem artykułu jest wykazanie zależności między populacjo-centryczną biopolityką, praktykami liberalnej władzy a bezpieczeństwem. Przeanalizowano proces wzmacniania granic amerykańskich z wykorzystaniem biometrycznych technik zarządzania ryzykiem, tzw. Smart Borders, których celem jest redukcja negatywnych elementów z przestrzeni bezpieczeństwa

The citizens’ perspective : awareness, feelings and acceptance of surveillance and surveillance systems for fighting crime in Sweden. A quantitative study

This document presents the results for Sweden within the framework of a larger study undertaken as part of the RESPECT project – “Rules, Expectations and Security through Privacy-enhanced Convenient Technologies” (RESPECT; G.A. 285582) – which was co-financed by the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013). Analyses are based on a survey regarding the perceptions, feelings, attitudes and behaviours of citizens towards surveillance for the purpose of fighting crime, carried out amongst a quota sample that is representative of the population in Sweden for age and gender. Responses were gathered, predominantly, through an online survey supplemented in some partner countries by a number of questionnaires administered in face to face interviews, in order to fulfil the quota and also reach those citizens who do not use the internet. The questionnaire consisted of 50 questions and was available online in all languages of the European Union between November 2013 and March 2014. The Swedish sample is based on the responses from 170 individuals who indicated Sweden as their country of residence. As a result, the Swedish respondents indicated a strongly felt lack of trust in the protection of, and control over, personal information gathered via surveillance. Further, the majority of respondents feel more unhappy than happy with the different types of surveillance (except CCTV), and they feel also unhappy about surveillance taking place without them knowing about it. Additionally, there is a rather strong link between feeling happy, or unhappy, about surveillance and feeling secure or insecure through the presence of surveillance. A large number of Swedish respondents appear to have two distinct, and very different, reactions to surveillance. Some people feel secure in the presence of surveillance, but in others surveillance produces feelings of insecurity. However, the majority of respondents feel more insecure than secure due to surveillance measures. Analyses also indicate that increasing the perceived effectiveness of surveillance measures as well as increasing the perceived effectiveness of laws regarding the protection of personal data gathered via surveillance may make citizens feel more secure. More research is needed to disentangle the relationships and effects between surveillance measures, feelings of security or insecurity, and citizens’ general quality of life feelings.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 285582.peer-reviewe

Atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry as a valuable method for the identification of polyisoprenoid alcohols

RATIONALE: The aim of this study was to determine whether Atmospheric Pressure Photoionization (APPI) was better suited for the mass spectrometric (MS) analysis of polyisoprenoid alcohols than the commonly used Electrospray Ionization (ESI) method. The APPI method should make possible the use of non-polar solvents without any of the additives required by ESI, together with improved detection limits. METHODS: The liquid chromatography (LC)/APPI-MS and LC/ESI-MS spectra of polyisoprenoid alcohol standards were acquired in both positive and negative ion mode, in methanol and hexane, using a triple quadrupole/linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometer equipped with both an ESI and an APPI ion source. RESULTS: In the positive ion mode peaks corresponding to [M +H � H2O]+ and [M +H]+ ions were observed in the APPI-MS spectra of polyprenols and dolichols, respectively. In the negative ion mode peaks corresponding to [M +O2]� • and [M+ Cl]� ions were observed for both classes of polyisoprenoid alcohols. The detection limit of polyisoprenoid alcohols was established at the level of 10 pg. CONCLUSIONS: APPI turned out to be a method of choice for the identification and quantitation of polyisoprenoid alcohols by MS using both polar and non-polar solvents. APPI also enabled greater differentiation of polyprenols and dolichols occurring together in natural samples and gave much better TIC chromatograms without the need for the post-column salt addition required by ESI

Prevalence of diabetes in Poland in the years 2010–2014

Introduction. Each year diabetes affects larger and larger number of people. Despite this fact, the number of people suffering from diabetes in Poland is not known precisely. In order to assess this prevalence, the thesis aims at assessing the prevalence of diabetes in the years 2010–2014 in the total Polish population by using the databases of the National Health Fund. Material and methods. In the period from 1st January 2010 until 31st December 2014 patients were distinguished according to PESEL (Personal Identification) numbers: 1. for whom health care providers have indicated diabetes-related ICD-10 codes as the main cause of the medical intervention in billing reports; 2. who had got their prescriptions filled for any hypoglycemic agents or for glucose meter test strips. The number of patients recorded as diabetes patients according to the ICD-10 code and the number of patients who had their prescriptions filled for hypoglycemic agents or test strips were assessed. On the basis of these data the prevalence of diabetes (percentage of people with diabetes in a given year or a percentage of people who had got their prescriptions filled for hypoglycemic agents or test strips in relation to the general population) in respective years and an average prevalence rate for respective voivodeships were assessed. Results. The average percentage of people with diabetes in the years 2010–2014 were found to be 4.47% (± 0.09%). This percentage has gradually increased in the consecutive years from 4.39% in 2010 to 4.61% in 2014. The average percentage of people who had got their prescriptions filled for diabetes related medicines or glucose meter test strips amounted to 5.88% in the years 2010–2014. The largest percentage of people with diabetes was in Silesian Voivodeship and amounted to 5.5% (± 0.1%), the second consecutive voivodeship was Łódź with 5.0% (± 0.2%) of people with diabetes and Opole Voivodeship on the third place with 4.9% (0.1%) inhabitants with diabetes. The smallest percentage of people with diabetes was noted in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship — 3.5% (± 0.1%) and Subcarpathian Voivodeship — 3.6% (± 0.2%). Conclusions. 1. Average diabetes prevalence rate in Poland in the years 2010–2014 amounted to 4.47% (the assessment was carried out on the basis of the number of people recorded by the National Health Fund as patients with diabetes) or 5.88% (assessment on the basis of the number of people who got their prescriptions filled for reimbursable hypoglycemic agents or glucose meter test strips). 2. Diabetes prevalence in Poland increases in the consecutive years. 3. Prevalence of diabetes varies among voivodeships.

Intentional obesity reduction and the occurrence of gastric cancer – literature review

Introduction: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of most common cancers worldwide. Reducing exposure to risk factors, along with screening and early detection, are crucial for prevention. Many studies have linked obesity to GC. Weight loss can be achieved through proper diet and exercise. For patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher, or 35 or higher with serious obesity-related comorbidities, bariatric surgery can be a means of weight reduction. This raises the question of whether intentional weight loss can lower the risk of GC in the population. Purpose of the study: The aim of this study is to collect and summarize existing evidence on connection of bariatric surgery and lower GC risk and mortality in patients with obesity. Material and method: Literature review was performed, in English databases, using keywords : cancer, gastric cancer, bariatric surgery, prevention, obesity, survival in gastric cancer. Results and conclusion:  It is widely recognized that obesity increases the risk of GC, and bariatric surgery is an effective method for weight reduction. Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for sustained weight loss and remission of obesity-related conditions. A systematic review conducted on this topic revealed that bariatric surgery is linked to a reduced risk of GC in patients with obesity. Compared to no surgery, bariatric surgery was found to be associated with significantly lower rates of obesity-associated cancer and cancer-related mortality. Weight loss after bariatric surgery provides significant health benefits