Agile Management Of Sustainable Development - Circular Economy

Purpose: The goal of the article is to create a model whose management method will take intoaccount individual needs (client, entrepreneur), implementing the standards of global economicsustainability. The created model allows defining the Sustainable Development Goals in terms ofthe environmental dimension of the circular economy.Methodology/Approach: For article purpose, circular economy was used as a method improvingthe chances of achieving the goals of sustainable development. The statistical significance of thevariables were checked for obtain data. In addition, this process was supported by the Deming cyclein order to be able to respond to changes using the agility methodology.Findings: The results of the research allowed to identify the most important (SDGs), which, whencombined with the trends of the industry/sector, formed a balanced loop taking into account allparticipants and their needs.Implications/limitations: Managing a company according to global standards is a big challenge.The results of an analysis of own needs (an enterprise) should correlate with the needs of stakeholders in the supply chain and with the direction of development of the industry/sector in order to support the domestic economy and be competitive on global markets.Originality/value: Study explains undertaken activities for implementing process of correlation between entities which must take into account the good of the individual and, above all, of the general public.Keywords: sustainable development, agility, circular economy, organizational improvementPaper type: Research pape

Ethics in the Selling of Financial Products

The author examines the existence of unethical behaviour of the employees of financial institutions. This paper is based on studies carried out with the aid of the ‘mystery shopper’ method in Warsaw. Based on the survey, the author wanted to check whether a client is well informed about the real costs of credit and whether a client is asked for an opinion about credit insurance. The outcomes have been compared with the findings of Robert Rogowski published in ʿThe moral dimension of the economic crisis’

Micro-Logistical Aspects of Manufacturing Enterprises in Supply Chain

Manufacturing companies are the crucial link in a supply chain; they shape goods directly as operational subject. Special consideration has been taken of the micro logistics area of these enterprises and the significance that the area plays in the formation of the chain. Production of goods is associated with managing multiple processes, both manufacturing and logistics, and therefore an important factor determining the proper functioning of an enterprises is their relative connection and systematization

Influence of metal ions on bioremediation activity of protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KB2

The aim of this paper was to describe the effect of various metal ions on the activity of protocatechuate 3,4- dioxygenase from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KB2. We also compared activity of different dioxygenases isolated from this strain, in the presence of metal ions, after induction by various aromatic compounds. S. maltophilia KB2 degraded 13 mM 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate, 10 mM benzoic acid and 12 mM phenol within 24 h of incubation. In the presence of dihydroxybenzoate and benzoate, the activity of protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase and catechol 1,2-dioxygenase was observed. Although Fe3?, Cu2 ?, Zn2?, Co2 ?, Al3 ?, Cd2 ?, Ni2 ? and Mn2? ions caused 20–80 % inhibition of protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase activity, the above-mentioned metal ions (with the exception of Ni2?) inhibited catechol 1,2-dioxygenase to a lesser extent or even activate the enzyme. Retaining activity of at least one of three dioxygenases from strain KB2 in the presence of metal ions makes it an ideal bacterium for bioremediation of contaminated areas

Variability of Carabidae in time and space in open areas

The temporal and spatial variability of carabid fauna was studied on a colliery spoil heap area in Germany and on an area of post-agricultural soil in Poland using pitfall traps. Applying Mean Individual Biomass (MIB) of carabids as an indicator of environmental quality, all plots were assessed as being young stages of succession. Species richness and total carabid abundance fluctuated remarkably among different plots and study years. Total numbers of individuals fluctuated significantly in time, whereas species richness remained strikingly constant. The Jaccard’s index ofspecies similarity was low for the level of individual sampling plots but high for the total catches when comparing different years. Individual species showed asynchronicity of fluctuations in numbers of individuals at the level of individual plots. Based on these results we suggest that the observed patterns can be explained by the ‘spreading of risk’ hypothesis

Bacterial properties changing under Triton X-100 presence in the diesel oil biodegradation systems : from surface and cellular changes to mono- and dioxygenases activities

Triton X-100, as one of the most popular surfactants used in bioremediation techniques, has been reported as an effective agent enhancing the biodegradation of hydrocarbons. However efficient, the surfactant’s role in different processes that together enable the satisfying biodegradation should be thoroughly analysed and verified. In this research, we present the interactions of Triton X-100 with the bacterial surfaces (hydrophobicity and zeta potential), its influence on the enzymatic properties (considering mono- and dioxygenases) and profiles of fatty acids, which then all together were compared with the biodegradation rates. The addition of various concentrations of Triton X-100 to diesel oil system revealed different cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) of the tested strains. The results demonstrated that for Pseudomonas stutzeri strain 9, higher diesel oil biodegradation was correlated with hydrophilic properties of the tested strain and lower Triton X-100 biodegradation. Furthermore, an increase of the branched fatty acids was observed for this strain

Polish pharmacy professionals' beliefs about homeopathic medicines - a survey.

Introduction: Homeopathy is an alternative therapeutic metod based on the principle of similarity, which was developed by Samuel Hahnemann in the 18th century. This method involves administering substances that may produce symptoms similar to the patient's reported ailment, in high dilutions. Despite scientific evidence speaking against this method, homeopathic products are defined as medicines by European law and undergo a special, simplified authorization procedure. In Poland, patients can only purchase homeopathic medicinal products at a pharmacy. Therefore, the recommendation obtained there may influence whether the patient decides to use a homeopathic medicine or not. Materials and methods: The study aimed to analyse the attitude of Polish pharmacists and pharmacy technicians towards homeopathic medicines. An anonymous questionnaire was conducted among professional pharmacy staff to assess their knowledge, beliefs, and recommendations regarding homeopathic medicines. Between January and April 2023, 298 respondents - 279 pharmacists and 19 technicians - completed the survey. The collected responses were statistically analyzed using STATISTICA v. 13.3. Statistical significance was checked using Pearson's χ2 test of concordance, assuming a p-value ≤ 0.05 as the level of significance. PCA principal component analysis was used to assess global relationships between the key variables analyzed regardless of scale. The constructed PCA model was estimated using the NIPALS iterative algorithm. Results: Out of the 298 survey respondents, 285 worked in community pharmacies. More than two-thirds of the respondents had personal experience using homeopathic medicines, and about one-third of them recommended such medicines to their patients. The willingness to recommend homeopathic medicines correlated with the respondent's history of positive effects of homeopathic medicines. Homeopathic medicines were most often recommended by women and people over 50 years of age. More than half of the professional pharmacy staff considered homeopathic medicines to be ineffective and to show only a placebo effect. When asked which conditions they recommended homeopathic medicines for, pharmacists and technicians most often indicated cold and flu symptoms, painful teething, and bruises and hematomas. Conclusions: The results of the survey suggest that most members of the professional pharmacy staff do not recommend homeopathic medicines to their patients. The problem of evaluating preparations with no proven therapeutic effect as effective mainly affects women over 50 and respondents from small towns. It is worth deepening the following study in the future, focusing on these groups of respondents. The knowledge gained in this way will make it possible to assess the extent to which this group of workers relies on scientific evidence and whether they are aware of making decisions based only on their own beliefs

Laser-induced splittings in the nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of the rare gases

Circularly polarized laser field causes a shift in the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of all substances. The shift is proportional to the intensity of the laser beam and yields oppositely signed values for left- and right-circularly polarized light, CPL -/+, respectively. Rapid switching -- in the NMR time scale -- between CPL+ and CPL- gives rise to a splitting of the NMR resonance lines. We present uncorrelated and correlated quadratic response calculations of the splitting per unit of beam intensity in the NMR spectra of $^{21}$Ne, $^{83}$Kr, and $^{129}$Xe. We study both the regions far away from and near to optical resonance and predict off-resonance shifts of the order 0.01, 0.1, and $1\times 10^{-6}$ Hz for $^{21}$Ne, $^{83}$Kr, and $^{129}$Xe, respectively, for a beam intensity of 10 W/cm$^2$. Enhancement by several orders of magnitude is predicted as the beam frequency approaches resonance. Only then can the effect on guest $^{129}$Xe atoms be potentially useful as a probe of the properties of the host material.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur