Variable stars in the field of the old open cluster NGC 2243

We report results of photometric monitoring of the NGC 2243 field in V and $I$ filters. Two W~UMa-type systems and three detached eclipsing binaries were discovered. Both contact systems are likely members of the cluster. One of detached binaries - variable V1 - has a period P=1.188 day. This variable is located at the cluster's turnoff in the color-magnitude diagram. Determination of parameters for components of V1 can provide direct information about properties of turnoff stars in NGC 2243 as well as to allow direct determination of cluster's distance. A background RR Lyr variable was found in the monitored field. The reddening of NGC 2243 is estimated at E(V-I)=0.10\pm 0.04 based on the V-I color exhibited by this star at minimum light. The observed distribution of colors for the background halo stars shows a cutoff at (V-I)\approx 0.60 what implies $E(V-I)\leq 0.12$ for the cluster.Comment: 18 pages, uuencoded postscript, includes 9 figures. Submitted to A&

„Papierowa wojna” – czyli o mniej znanych aspektach pewnej znanej klęski wojennej propagandy

‘PAPER WAR’ – OR THE LESSER-KNOWN ASPECTS OF A CERTAIN WELL-KNOWN FAILURE OF WARTIME PROPAGANDA The article presents examples of the construction of a war narrative aimed not so much at accurately informing the public about key decisions for the state, but at ways of constructing messages to achieve strategic objectives, which do not necessarily prove to be effective

Offensive pour la Pologne? Wojskowe aspekty polityki mocarstw zachodnich wobec Polski a konferencja w Abbeville (wiosna–lato 1939 roku)

Spośród wydarzeń istotnych dla rozwoju sytuacji politycznej i wojennej strategii pierwszych tygodni II wojny światowej niewiele równać się może z pierwszym posiedzeniem alianckiej Najwyższej Rady Wojennej, które odbyło się 12 września 1939 r. we francuskim Abbeville. Owo spotkanie, często przywoływane w literaturze, nieczęsto stawało się dotychczas przedmiotem pogłębionej naukowej refleksji. Among the events important for the development of political situation and war strategy in the first weeks of World War II only few can compare with the first meeting of the Anglo-French Supreme War Council at Abbeville in France on 12 September 1939. What is surprising is that the meeting, often referred to in the literature on the subject, has not been thoroughly researched by historians

Fortified Barrack Complexes of the Galician Fortresses of Krakow and Przemyśl – a Path towards Adaptation

Barrack complexes of Krakow and Przemyśl, the largest Austro-Hungarian fortresses in Central Europe, are numerous and relatively well-preserved facilities of the former garrison backup infrastructure. Their solutions, although different in terms of construction time and contemporary function, nowadays constitute successful examples of adaptation, revitalisation, and heritage conservation. They include the campus of the Cracow University of Technology, the historic complex of exemplary Archduke Rudolf barracks that has been taken over from the army, adapted and extended in the 1960s and 1970s, at present revitalised according to the concept of the Education and Museum Centre that takes into consideration Tadeusz Kościuszko, the military engineer, after whom the university was named. A part of the historic supply complex of the Krakow Fortress adapted to the Home Army Museum, as an example of saving a building on a degraded post-military area abandoned by the army and deprived of its identity, received a new genius loci in the museum\u27s architectural vision and space of ideas. The phenomenon of cavalry and aviation barracks, the combination of imperial and royal cavalry with the outset of military aviation, constitutes a unique landscape of airfields from the times of the monarchy. Adjacent to the complex of the new Museum of Polish Aviation and Aviation Culture Park, they are still used by the army. A barrack complex in Siedliska near Przemyśl raised at a background of the outer ring of fortifications with its vision of a hostel, a small tourist refuge lost somewhere in the Polish-Ukrainian frontier, will serve for the purposes of education and cultural tourism as a site with an interesting neighbourhood of historic military architecture that is unique in Europe

Coplanar Waveguide-Fed Broadband Microwave Devices with (or without) a Thin Dielectric Substrate for Use in Flexible Electronic Systems

Two examples of microwave devices, fed by a coplanar waveguide and realized on a thin substrate (or without such a substrate), are employed to investigate the influence of devices’ curvatures and the proximity of different materials on their parameters. To perform the tests, a broadband antenna and a low-pass filter are chosen. A feeding coplanar waveguide is realized on a dielectric material brick attached to an SMA connector and the main device structure is placed in the air or on a thin substrate. The utilization of a thin substrate or its removal from the structure gives rise to the possibility of placing the devices on curved surfaces. The investigated devices are redesigned and manufactured. The antenna has a total size of 46 mm × 44 mm and covers a frequency range of 2.4–35 GHz which gives a 174% fractional bandwidth. The filter has a total size of 50 mm × 80 mm and its bandwidth has a cutoff frequency of 3.4 GHz. The obtained results are verified by measurements and good agreement is achieved

Coronary Sinus to Left Atrial Communication

Congenital coronary sinus anomalies are rare in clinical practice, partly due to the lack of symptoms. We present a case of coronary sinus anomaly causing a right-to-left intracardiac shunt in a 46 years/old African American female with a past medical history of obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and ischemic cardiomyopathy who presented with hypoxia. In the months prior to her presentation, she had suffered an inferior myocardial infarction with right ventricular involvement, as well as resulting severe tricuspid regurgitation. In conclusion, further investigations revealed a communication between the coronary sinus (CS) and left atrium (LA)

TRAIL-induced apoptosis and expression of death receptor TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 in bladder cancer cells.

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL/Apo2L) is a member of TNF superfamily able to induce programmed death in cancer cells with no toxicity against normal tissues. TRAIL mediate apoptosis follows binding to the two death receptors, TRAIL-R1 (DR4) and/or TRAIL-R2 (DR5). In this study we investigated the cytotoxic and apoptotic effect of TRAIL on bladder cancer cells and the expression of death receptor TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 on the surface of these cancer cells. Three human bladder transitional cancer cell (TCC) lines - SW780, 647V and T24 were tested for TRAIL sensitivity. The bladder cancer cells were incubated with human soluble recombinant TRAIL. Cytotoxicity was measured by MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-dimethyltetrazolium bromide) and LDH (lactate dyhydrogenase) assays. Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry with annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide and by fluorescence microscopy with Hoechst 33342/annexin V-FITC/Ethidium Homodimer. The cell surface expression of TRAIL death receptors on bladder cancer were determined using flow cytometry with phycoerythrin-conjugated monoclonal anti-human TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2. Our investigations confirmed that SW780 cells were sensitive to TRAIL, and two other bladder cancer cell lines, 647V and T24, were resistant to TRAIL induced apoptosis. We therefore examined the expression of TRAIL death receptors on bladder cancer cell surfaces. We showed decreased expression of TRAIL-R2 receptor in TRAIL-resistant bladder cancer cells and increased expression of this death receptor in TRAIL-sensitive SW780 cells. The expression of TRAILR1 receptor was similar in all bladder cancer cell lines. TRAIL is one of the promising candidates for cancer therapeutics. However, some cancer cells are resistant to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. It is therefore important to overcome this resistance for the clinical use of TRAIL in cancer therapy. TRAIL death receptors are attractive therapeutic targets in cancer treatment. The cytotoxic agents capable of up-regulating the expression of TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 can sensitize cancer cells to TRAIL induced apoptosis