Gazprom's expansion in the EU - co-operation or domination? OSW Report, April 2008

The energy sector, especially with regard to natural gas trade, is one of the key areas of co-operation between the EU and Russia. However, the character of this co-operation has given rise to increasing doubts both in Brussels and among the EU member states. The questions have emerged whether this co-operation does not make the EU excessively dependent on Russian energy supplies, and whether Gazprom's presence in the EU will not allow Moscow to interfere in the proces of devising the EU energy policy. This report is intended to present the factual base and data necessary to provide accurate answers to the foregoing questions. The first part of the report presents the scope and character of Gazprom's economic presence in the EU member states. The second part shows the presence of the EU investors in Russia. The data presented has been provided by the International Energy Agency, European Commission, the Central Bank of Russia and the Russian Federal State Statistics Service. Some of the data is the result of calculations made by the Centre for Eastern Studies' experts who were basing on the data provided by energy companies, the specialist press and news agencies

Gazprom's expansion in the EU: co-operation or domination? OSW Report, October 2009

The energy sector, especially with regard to the gas trade, is one of the key areas of co-operation between the EU and Russia. However, the form this co-operation has taken has been giving rise to some concern, both in Brussels and in the EU member states. Questions arise as to whether the EU has not become excessively dependent on Russia for energy, and whether the presence of the Russian gas monopoly in the EU does not enable Russian interference with the development of EU energy policy. The objective of this series of OSW reports (for the previous edition,see Gazprom’s expansion in the EU: co-operation or domination? April 2008 – pdf 1.2 MB) is to provide facts which will permit an accurat answer to these questions to be formulated

Debundling and Selective Enrichment of SWNTs for Applications in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

We present an overview of the recent developments in de-bundling and sorting of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs), which are useful for hi-tech applications in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Applications of SWNTs as transparent and conductive films, catalyst, and scaffold in DSSCs are also reviewed.Peer Reviewe

Dreaming of Poland. The Hopes and the Disillusionment of Polish Intelligentsia

Artykuł omawia rolę odegraną przez inteligencję w dziejach Polski XX wieku. Czyni to na przykładzie historii rodziny Kapiszewskich, szczególnie Henryka (1899–1964) i Andrzeja (1948–2007). Przedstawia krzepnięcie inteligencji jako warstwy i przejmowanie przez nią narodowego przywództwa. Śledzi inteligencką misję, w tym działania zmierzające do odbudowania niepodległości Polski i umocnienia suwerenności w latach 1918–1939. Wskazuje na podobieństwo postaw przed 1918 r. i po 1945 r., w czym ważną rolę odegrały tradycje rodzinne.The article investigates the role of the intelligentsia in the history of Poland in the 20th century, as exemplifi ed by the history of the Kapiszewski family, specifi cally Henryk (1899–1964) and Andrzej (1948–2007). Issues analyzed include the establishment of the intelligentsia as a social class and its infl uence on the nation. The evolution of the goals of the intelligentsia is scrutinized – fi rst to regain Poland’s independence before 1918, then to strengthen the state’s sovereignty between 1918 and 1939. Similarities between the stances represented by the intelligentsia before 1918 and after 1945 are noted, including the importance of those stances being shaped by family traditions

The Genesis of Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s Government – Main and Secondary Characters

Streszczenie: Artykuł jest nowym politologicznym wyjaśnieniem genezy rządu T. Mazowieckiego. Omawia rozwój wydarzeń politycznych w 1989 r. od zawarcia kontraktu okrągłego stołu do podjęcia decyzji o powołaniu pierwszego od 1945 r. niekomunistycznego premiera w Polsce. Za najważniejszy czynnik sprawczy tego zwrotu uznaje społeczne protesty wywołane decyzją rządu Rakowskiego o urynkowieniu cen żywności. Przeraziły one gen. W. Jaruzelskiego i jego najbliższych współpracowników: gen. Cz. Kiszczaka i gen. F. Siwickiego. Obawiając się społecznego buntu, generałowie porozumieli się z hierarchami Kościoła i uzgodnili powołanie na premiera wskazanego przez episkopat T. Mazowieckiego. Artykuł docenia znaczenie czynnika uważanego dotąd za główną przyczynę powstania rządu T. Mazowieckiego, czyli rozbicie przez L. Wałęsę koalicji PZPR z ZSL i SD, ale przypisuje mu mniejszą od buntu społecznego rolę sprawczą.This political science article proposes a new explanation of the genesis of T. Mazowiecki’s government. It describes the political events of 1989 from the conclusion of the Round Table contract to the decision on the designation of the fi rst noncommunist Prime Minister in Poland since 1945. The article identifi es the public protest initiated by Rakowski’s government’s decision to subject food prices to market forces as the reason for this development. Fearing a revolt, General W. Jaruzelski and his closest collaborators, General Cz. Kiszczak and General F. Siwicki, came to an understanding with Church hierarchy, and agreed to designate the episcopacy’s choice – T. Mazowiecki – as Prime Minister. The article recognizes that L. Wałęsa’s efforts to split the coalition of the Polish United Workers Party with the United People’s Party and the Alliance of Democrats played an important role in the creation of T. Mazowiecki’s government, however it attaches more importance to public protest, contrary to the current scientifi c consensus

Dreaming of Poland. The Hopes and the Disillusionment of Polish Intelligentsia

Publikacja recenzowana / Peer-reviewed publicationArtykuł omawia rolę odegraną przez inteligencję w dziejach Polski XX wieku. Czyni to na przykładzie historii rodziny Kapiszewskich, szczególnie Henryka (1899–1964) i Andrzeja (1948–2007). Przedstawia krzepnięcie inteligencji jako warstwy i przejmowanie przez nią narodowego przywództwa. Śledzi inteligencką misję, w tym działania zmierzające do odbudowania niepodległości Polski i umocnienia suwerenności w latach 1918–1939. Wskazuje na podobieństwo postaw przed 1918 r. i po 1945 r., w czym ważną rolę odegrały tradycje rodzinne.The article investigates the role of the intelligentsia in the history of Poland in the 20th century, as exemplified by the history of the Kapiszewski family, specifi cally Henryk (1899–1964) and Andrzej (1948–2007). Issues analyzed include the establishment of the intelligentsia as a social class and its influence on the nation. The evolution of the goals of the intelligentsia is scrutinized – first to regain Poland’s independence before 1918, then to strengthen the state’s sovereignty between 1918 and 1939. Similarities between the stances represented by the intelligentsia before 1918 and after 1945 are noted, including the importance of those stances being shaped by family traditions

The MAPK/ERK channel capacity exceeds 6 bit/hour.

Living cells utilize signaling pathways to sense, transduce, and process information. As the extracellular stimulation often has rich temporal characteristics which may govern dynamic cellular responses, it is important to quantify the rate of information flow through the signaling pathways. In this study, we used an epithelial cell line expressing a light-activatable FGF receptor and an ERK activity reporter to assess the ability of the MAPK/ERK pathway to transduce signal encoded in a sequence of pulses. By stimulating the cells with random light pulse trains, we demonstrated that the MAPK/ERK channel capacity is at least 6 bits per hour. The input reconstruction algorithm detects the light pulses with 1-min accuracy 5 min after their occurrence. The high information transmission rate may enable the pathway to coordinate multiple processes including cell movement and respond to rapidly varying stimuli such as chemoattracting gradients created by other cells