Half a century of amyloids: past, present and future

Amyloid diseases are global epidemics with profound health, social and economic implications and yet remain without a cure. This dire situation calls for research into the origin and pathological manifestations of amyloidosis to stimulate continued development of new therapeutics. In basic science and engineering, the cross-ß architecture has been a constant thread underlying the structural characteristics of pathological and functional amyloids, and realizing that amyloid structures can be both pathological and functional in nature has fuelled innovations in artificial amyloids, whose use today ranges from water purification to 3D printing. At the conclusion of a half century since Eanes and Glenner's seminal study of amyloids in humans, this review commemorates the occasion by documenting the major milestones in amyloid research to date, from the perspectives of structural biology, biophysics, medicine, microbiology, engineering and nanotechnology. We also discuss new challenges and opportunities to drive this interdisciplinary field moving forward. This journal i

Wiktor Grygorenko

Wiktor Grygorenko was born on March 6, 1927. He passed his final high school exam in Katowice in 1949 and after a military training he began his studies at the Military School of Topographers. Then he studied geodesy at the Military Engineering Academy in Moscow. Having returned to Warsaw in 1959, he worked in the Military Cartographic Works and later in the Topographic Board of the General Staff of the Polish Army. Simultaneously, he took a lecturer post at the Military Technical Academy in Warsaw where he elaborated student textbooks on maps editing, cartographic reproduction, and mathematical cartography. His comprehensive manual Elaboration of general geographical maps was published in 1970. He was a member of the editorial staff at the popular World Atlas, published in 1962-1968 and also known under the name of Pergamon World Atlas. A new and innovative projection devised by Wiktor Grygorenko was used in the World Atlas, nowadays known as the projection of the Polish Army Topographical Service. In 1971 he obtained the degree of a Doctor of Technical Sciences in cartography at the Warsaw University of Technology. The subject of his thesis were theoretical fundamentals of the automatic cartographic data processing. Wiktor Grygorenko was one of the Polish pioneers of computer usage in cartography and was the author of many valuable papers on the subject. He began to work at University of Warsaw in 1972, In 1978 he completed his habilitation procedures on the basis of his dissertation entitled Quantitative Parameters of the Cartographic Content Composition in which he formulated the idea of the quantitative model of a map, thus drawing a new direction of theoretical and practical works in cartographic design and evaluation. Many papers on cartographic generalisation with usage of computer methods were created under his guidance. In 1980, three years after the unexpected death of professor Lech Ratajski, Wiktor Grygorenko became the Head of the Chair of Cartography at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies. In 1981 he became the Vice-dean for student affairs and served two terms. His first term fell in the difficult period of the martial law when he defended students on many occasions, gaining their gratitude and respect. In autumn 1982 he also became the Head of the Department of Cartography at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, which he administered until 1992. Making a good use of his broad didactic experience, he published several absorbing articles on educating cartographers with the geographic training. He actively participated in conferences, conventions, and cartographic trainings, animating discussions with his inspiring speeches. In summer 1982, during the 11th conference of the International Cartographic Association in Warsaw he presented the paper Cybernetic model of cartographic communication that was in certain degree a continuation and an explication of professor Lech Ratajski's idea of communication model. The main field of professor Grygorenko's (he obtained the professorship in 1992) scientific interest were theoretical issues related to the automation of the maps editing and usage processes. His interest in the history of cartography resulted in the publication of several interesting papers on the subject and participation in meetings of cartography historians. He served many social functions both at the University of Warsaw and among the geodesists and cartographers. Professor Wiktor Grygorenko died on February 25, 2008

Lech Ratajski

Lech Ratajski was born on 26 April 1921, in Rawa Mazowiecka, in a teachers' family. In 1939 he obtained the school-leaving certificate in Łomża. During the II World War he worked as a teacher and a clerk. He was also a member of the Home Army (AK) and he took part in the sabotage actions for which in 1949 he was honoured with the Cross of Valour. After the war he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow for two years. In 1950 he graduated of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow with a degree in geography. As a student he collaborated with the popular monthly magazine „Poznaj Świat” (Know the World) for which he elaborated maps, designed covers, and wrote short notes. In 1950, accordingly to his interests, he took a post at the Department of Regional Geography within the Geographical Institute of the University of Warsaw. He wrote on the subject of the geographic names and in 1959 he was a co-author of the extensive specification comprising 20,000 geographical names. He was also the co-author of the wall economic charts of Poland and of the world, that were innovative in the Polish cartography of those days. He continuously collaborated with the magazine „Poznaj Świat” that was being published in Warsaw since the end of 1955 and he was its Editor-in-chief since 1968. He was the author of many articles and notes on the regional geography and of a book - a compendium of knowledge on Africa. The main field of his scientific interest was the thematic cartography, especially the economic maps and to this issue both his dissertations were related: the doctor's dissertation (1962) on the achievements of the Polish economic cartography in 20th century and the habilitation dissertation ( 1966) on industrial maps and their cartometric value. He devised the model of the cartographic methods of presentation, the model of cartographic generalisation, and the proposition of economic maps signs standardisation. Since 1968 he was the chairman of the Working Group and later of the Commission on Communication in Cartography at the International Cartographical Association (ICA). In the academic year 1971/1972 he lectured at the University of Edmonton and participated in the International Cartographical Association conference in Ottawa, at which he was elected the Vice-president of the Association. During his stay in Canada he prepared the textbook Methodology of the socioeconomic cartography that was published in 1973, and its second, updated edition was published in 1989. At the end of 1967 he was appointed the professorship at the Chair of Cartography where he introduced many didactic innovations - among others the free-hand drawing. In 1973 he employed dr W. Grygorenko (the future Chairman of the Chair) to teach computer cartography to the students. He tutored approximately 90 master's thesis, including 17 on the economic charts of the Polish voivodeships. In 1973- 1977 four employees of his Chair were promoted doctors. In 1973 Lech Ratajski obtained the title of a professor. He served several functions at the Polish Geographic Society, among others he was the President of the Commission of Cartography. In 1976 he was honoured with the medal of the Society. His bibliography comprises over 400 items including over 150 on cartography. He was the author of 30 portable and wall maps and approx. 600 annex maps to articles, books, and encyclopedias. Lech Ratajski died on 22 November 1977, in Warsaw

Flexibility approach in the runway pavement using FLEMANCO method

The pressing problems of managing construction processes reveal themselves in discrepancies between plan and execution which seems to result in considerable measure from dependence on the changing environment. High variability, dynamics and uncertainty of execution conditions generate disturbances which could be avoided by applying flexibility – creating a range of executive options enabling adjustment to changing environmental conditions. The principal advantages of implementing the proposed FLEMANCO (FLExibility MANagement in the COnstruction industry) method include better consistency between planning and an actual course of execution, lower changes in costs and execution time by considering various scenarios of execution conditions, the possibility of loss prevention and taking advantage of opportunities connected with the changing environment etc. The presented example concerns concreting a runway, although similar problems occur in concreting roads, yards, bridges as well as erecting high buildings, earthworks etc

Stanisław Pietkiewicz

Professor Stanisław Pietkiewicz Ph.D was born on 28 July 1894 in Cybulów, near Human in Ukraine. He studied at the Technical University in Sankt Petersburg and Kiev. With the outbreak of the I World War he was called up to the army and trained for an instructor of topography. After the war he took a post at the Military Institute of Geography and in 1926 at its Cartography Section. Simultaneously he studied geography at the University of Warsaw under the guidance of Professor S. Lencewicz. In 1929 he received the degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in the physical geography and in 1936 he completed his habilitation procedures on the basis of dissertation entitled On methods of terrain depiction on maps (1930) which included, among others, a proposition of depicting the terrain relief on the Military Operational Map 1: 300 000. At the Department of Geography he lectured on cartography, hydrography, and the regional geography of France where he received a year-long research grant (1929-1930). In 1920 he participated in the demarcation of the Polish-German border in the Greater Poland and of the Polish-Soviet border in 1946. During the occupation he lived in Warsaw and lectured at the underground courses. After the II World War he lectured in Cracow and later in Warsaw and Łódź. He was the founder, the organizer, and the first chairman (1950- 1964) of the Chair of Cartography functioning within the Institute of Geography at the University of Warsaw. Beside cartography he was occupied with geomorphology of the north-eastern Poland; with hydrography that he lectured for many years at the University of Łódź; and with the regional geography of Poland (he was the author of the Northern Poland division into the natural units). In 1954 he received the title of an associated professor. As a cartographer he specialized in the issues of terrain relief depiction on the general geographical maps and in the history of cartography. He took part in six International Geographical Union congresses and in the conference on International World Map 1: 1 000 000 in 1928, in Cambridge. He published the book Climates of the Earth ( 1946); the wall chart Climates of the World (1951); and the textbook Waters of the Earth ( 1958). He was the initiator and the editor of a set of seven wall maps of Polish regions in the scale 1:250 000. He was the tutor of 3 doctor's dissertations and of nearly 100 master's thesis at the Chair of Cartography. He was also an honorary member of the Polish Geographic Society ( 1971) and of the International Cartographic Association ( 1982). Professor Stanisław Pietkiewicz died in Warsaw in 1986

The use of real time locating systems to eliminate waste in the construction process in formal and legal aspects

Aspekt formalnoprawny stosowania systemów ustalania lokalizacji w czasie rzeczywistym do eliminacji marnotrawstwa w procesie budowlanym. W artykule przedstawiono ideę systemów typu RTLS pod kątem wykorzystania ich do eliminacji marnotrawstwa w procesie budowlanym. Opisywane systemy z punktu widzenia strumienia wartości są pomocne w wykrywaniu czynności nietworzących wartości dodanej. Autorzy przedstawili temat w aspekcie formalnoprawnym związanym z monitorowaniem i ze śledzeniem pracowników podczas pracy. Zwrócono uwagę na niezbędne dokumenty, pozwolenia, zgłoszenia i zgody pracowników, które zgodnie z obowiązującym w Polsce prawem należy posiadać, aby móc wykorzystywać tego typu systemy do zbierania i przetwarzania danych o lokalizacji pracowników w trakcie wykonywania prac.The use of real time locating systems to eliminate waste in the construction process in formal and legal aspects. The paper presents the idea RTLS systems for use in the elimination of waste in the construction process. Systems are described in terms of value flows as useful tools in detecting non-adding value steps. The authors presented the topic in terms of formal and legal issues related to the monitoring and tracking of workers in the construction processes. Necessary documents, permits, notification and consent of employees are highlighted, which according to Polish law must be in order to use such systems to collect and process data about the location of staff during execution of works

Modernization of Curriculum in Construction Management Based on EU Funds

The need for modernization of curricula is growing with the development of new technologies to support teaching, changes in business strategy of universities in Poland and European Union, and development of the society. In response to these changes, at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Poznan University of Technology, new English-language specialty master studies - Construction Technology Management was launched in March 2014. Studies are based on the cooperation between the student, the industry and the university, allowing students to get to know the specifics of the construction industry. In addition, Poznan University of Technology is involved in an MBAIC project MBA in construction aimed at common study for postgraduates. The synergy achieved through the implementation of these two projects enables the possibility to educate construction managers capable of communication in English, possessing knowledge regarding innovation in the construction industry, who are well prepared to enter the labour market and have the possibility of subsequent improvement of managerial competences