The urban local centre: from the centrally-planned economy to the capitalist city. The experience of the Ursynów district in Warsaw

The polycentric structure of the city reflects the role of various stakeholders, public and private, in shaping the urban development and life quality. The paper investigates the role of the public and private sector in creation of the local centres in neighbourhoods, hubs concentrating the services and amenities indispensable for modern life. The analysis is based on the case study of the Ursynów district in Warsaw, designed and constructed mainly in the 1980s, but with several infrastructural, housing, and commercial investments realised after 1989. The study encompassed the location of local centres, their functions, and spatial forms. The findings demonstrate that both public and private sectors play intertwined and significant roles for the local centres and create a synergy effect in such areas. The results of the study also show the evolutionary nature of the local centres’ development. The main elements of the design persist, but the market-oriented economy and decentralised democratic institutions allowed them to continue the original plans, while making the local centres more attractive and richer function-wise than it was possible during the centrally-planned period

Institutional potential and barriers for a circular economy. The case study of Warsaw

The paper presents the study conducted in the Mokotów district in Warsaw, encompassing circular practices of eight chosen local entities, from private, public, and NGO sectors. The choice was based on the preliminary research showing that the entities were already engaged in some form of the circular transition. The definition of the circular economy applied in the study was based on the one proposed by Kircherr, Reike, and Hekkert [2017] describing a circular economy as an economic system based on business models replacing the ‘end-of-life’ concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling, and recovering materials in production/distribution and consumption processes. The aim is to accomplish sustainable development, by creating environmental quality, economic prosperity, and social equity to the benefit of current and future generations.The goals of the study encompassed:• verification if there is a common understanding of what the circular economy is;• identification and comparison of circular practices introduced by various actors;• identification of existing incentives for circular practices and expected benefits;• pinpointing the obstacles and barriers, both within organisations and outside.The identified practices were also verified to support more specific goals of the circular economy, present in the literature. The findings show that current benefits of the circular transition are limited and the actions are mostly driven by personal involvement. The lack of the support of local administration is evident, as well as the limitation of market solutions. Networking turns are to be one of the most important aspects of efficient circular practices

Sustainable city – flexible or durable? Socio-economics aspects of urban patterns

The book fits into a multidisciplinary research approach. The articles are the result of research conducted by eminent international economists, authors representing academic centres in different countries. The articles address current phenomena observed in the global economy. The authors do not aspire to comprehensively explain all the very complex and multi-dimensional economic developments, but illustrate many of these phenomena in an original way. The multi-threaded and multi-dimensional nature of the discussion in particular articles deserves attention. These include theoretical and methodological articles as well as the results of empirical research presented by the authors. The book is addressed to those persons interested in issues of economics, finance, regional economy, and the management sciences. It can be valuable for economic practitioners, members of management and supervisory boards of companies, and financial analysts, and the articles may also be useful for academicians and students.This paper’s goal is to introduce an interdisciplinary assessment of urban patterns as a factor of socio-economic development, presenting selected examples of how different urban patterns (compactness, complexity, decentralisation and porosity) influence family economics, risk management for city dwellers and entrepreneurs, labour market and social inclusion or inequality. Urban patterns and socio-economic aspects of urban life are closely linked in a complex and manifold way. The main topic of the paper will be the assessment in what way durability or flexibility of a built environment influences urban sustainable development. It is not possible to identify one spatial pattern that in the best way meets the need to adapt to new challenges and threats. However, case studies can point to certain features of cities, especially their diversity, as being the most important for their proper functioning

Customizable Digital Receivers for Radar

Compact, highly customizable digital receivers are being developed for the system described in 'Radar Interferometer for Topographic Mapping of Glaciers and Ice Sheets' (NPO-43962), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 31, No. 7 (August 2007), page 72. The receivers are required to operate in unison, sampling radar returns received by the antenna elements in a digital beam-forming (DBF) mode. The design of these receivers could also be adapted to commercial radar systems. At the time of reporting the information for this article, there were no commercially available digital receivers capable of satisfying all of the operational requirements and compact enough to be mounted directly on the antenna elements. A provided figure depicts the overall system of which the digital receivers are parts. Each digital receiver includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a demultiplexer (DMUX), and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The ADC effects 10-bit band-pass sampling of input signals having frequencies up to 3.5 GHz. The input samples are demultiplexed at a user-selectable rate of 1:2 or 1:4, then buffered in part of the FPGA that functions as a first-in/first-out (FIFO) memory. Another part of the FPGA serves as a controller for the ADC, DMUX, and FIFO memory and as an interface between (1) the rest of the receiver and (2) a front-panel data port (FPDP) bus, which is an industry-standard parallel data bus that has a high data-rate capability and multichannel configuration suitable for DBF. Still other parts of the FPGA in each receiver perform signal-processing functions. The digital receivers can be configured to operate in a stand-alone mode, or in a multichannel mode as needed for DBF. The customizability of the receiver makes it applicable to a broad range of system architectures. The capability for operation of receivers in either a stand-alone or a DBF mode enables the use of the receivers in an unprecedentedly wide variety of radar systems

Poetry in the Primary Classroom: Collaboration and Response

The most recent learning and literary theories are challenging the ways in which practitioners are teaching reading and understanding. In the past, the focus in teaching reading has been on the acquisition of a hierarchy of subskills and the mastery of a controlled vocabulary. Comprehension was separable from and dependent on the development of the lower level word identification skills. Much of reading time was spent on isolated skills that were intended to improve, but did not include, the act of reading, particularly the reading of poetry. These skills were considered to be important steps in the process of enabling the reader to extract the correct and determinable meaning from text

Effect of genomic and subgenomic leader sequences of potato leafroll virus on gene expression

AbstractThe effect of the genomic and subgenomic leader sequence of potato leafroll polerovirus on the efficiency of translation of the downstream located genes has been studied. The results obtained in vitro and in vivo indicate that neither leader sequence functions as translational enhancer, a generally important feature of leader sequences. Deletion analyses demonstrated that both leader sequences not only decrease translation of the downstream located genes but also alter the ratio of the synthesized proteins. A correlation between the in vitro and in vivo results can be established in the case of the subgenomic leader sequence

New craft production in Europe : between creative class and industrial manufacturing

PURPOSE: This article presents research regarding “new craft”, an emerging and developing part of the local economy in many European cities. The term refers to types of work between traditional manufacturing and creative industries, more innovative and individual than the former and more tangible than most of the latter.APPROACH: The study was based on a literature review, interviews and analysis of a case study - the post-industrial Praga district of Warsaw, which is an original work of the authors from Warsaw School of Economics and OpenHeritage, a Horizon 2020 project.FINDINGS: The findings encompass specific aspects and characteristics of jobs located on the edges of two groups – traditional manufacturing and creative industries. This research helps to fill a previous gap in the European statistics regarding small-scale production and manufacturing. This part of locality is gaining importance due to (1) a recent stimulus in new forms of production and the testing of innovative, large-scale manufacturing (2) the reintroduction of urban manufacturing which now raises less concern about possible negative environmental impacts (3) the role of local networks during the Covid-19 pandemic.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: New craft production is a significant and growing trend in numerous European cities. It should be based on two elements: (1) traditional high quality European craft and manufacturing (2) innovation and creative industries in which the EU wants to be a global leader. Therefore, there is a need for policies, financial mechanisms and statistical recognition that will bring benefits to craftsmen and municipal decision makers.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: According to the authors, new craft production to some extent replaces traditional craftspeople but more importantly stimulates innovation. Therefore, its role and characteristics should be discussed further – especially in new post-Covid 19 reality – as a factor in stimulating the development of local economies, including districts and cities.peer-reviewe

Identification of cinically relevant Streptococcus and Enterococcus species based on biochemical methods and 16S rRNA, sodA, tuf, rpoB, and recA gene sequencing

Streptococci and enterococci are significant opportunistic pathogens in epidemiology and infectious medicine. High genetic and taxonomic similarities and several reclassifications within genera are the most challenging in species identification. The aim of this study was to identify Streptococcus and Enterococcus species using genetic and phenotypic methods and to determine the most discriminatory identification method. Thirty strains recovered from clinical samples representing 15 streptococcal species, five enterococcal species, and four nonstreptococcal species were subjected to bacterial identification by the Vitek® 2 system and Sanger-based sequencing methods targeting the 16S rRNA, sodA, tuf, rpoB, and recA genes. Phenotypic methods allowed the identification of 10 streptococcal strains, five enterococcal strains, and four nonstreptococcal strains (Leuconostoc, Granulicatella, and Globicatella genera). The combination of sequencing methods allowed the identification of 21 streptococcal strains, five enterococcal strains, and four nonstreptococcal strains. The 16S rRNA and rpoB genes had the highest identification potential. Only a combination of several molecular methods was sufficient for unambiguous confirmation of species identity. This study will be useful for comparison of several identification methods, both those used as a first choice in routine microbiology and those used for final confirmation

Streptococcus suis in invasive human infections in Poland : clonality and determinants of virulence and antimicrobial resistance

The purpose of this study was to perform an analysis of Streptococcus suis human invasive isolates, collected in Poland by the National Reference Centre for Bacterial Meningitis. Isolates obtained from 21 patients during 2000–2013 were investigated by phenotypic tests, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), analysis of the TR9 locus from the multilocus variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) scheme and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of SmaI-digested DNA. Determinants of virulence and antimicrobial resistance were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and analysed by sequencing. All isolates represented sequence type 1 (ST1) and were suggested to be serotype 2. PFGE and analysis of the TR9 locus allowed the discrimination of four and 17 types, respectively. Most of the isolates were haemolysis- and DNase-positive, and around half of them formed biofilm. Genes encoding suilysin, extracellular protein factor, fibronectin-binding protein, muramidase-released protein, surface antigen one, enolase, serum opacity factor and pili were ubiquitous in the studied group, while none of the isolates carried sequences characteristic for the 89K pathogenicity island. All isolates were susceptible to penicillin, cefotaxime, imipenem, moxifloxacin, chloramphenicol, rifampicin, gentamicin, linezolid, vancomycin and daptomycin. Five isolates (24 %) were concomitantly non-susceptible to erythromycin, clindamycin and tetracycline, and harboured the tet(O) and erm(B) genes; for one isolate, lsa(E) and lnu(B) were additionally detected. Streptococcus suis isolated in Poland from human invasive infections belongs to a globally distributed clonal complex of this pathogen, enriched in virulence markers. This is the first report of the lsa(E) and lnu(B) resistance genes in S. suis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10096-016-2616-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Radar Interferometer for Topographic Mapping of Glaciers and Ice Sheets

A report discusses Ka-band (35-GHz) radar for mapping the surface topography of glaciers and ice sheets at high spatial resolution and high vertical accuracy, independent of cloud cover, with a swath-width of 70 km. The system is a single- pass, single-platform interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) with an 8-mm wavelength, which minimizes snow penetration while remaining relatively impervious to atmospheric attenuation. As exhibited by the lower frequency SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) AirSAR and GeoSAR systems, an InSAR measures topography using two antennas separated by a baseline in the cross-track direction, to view the same region on the ground. The interferometric combination of data received allows the system to resolve the pathlength difference from the illuminated area to the antennas to a fraction of a wavelength. From the interferometric phase, the height of the target area can be estimated. This means an InSAR system is capable of providing not only the position of each image point in along-track and slant range as with a traditional SAR but also the height of that point through interferometry. Although the evolution of InSAR to a millimeter-wave center frequency maximizes the interferometric accuracy from a given baseline length, the high frequency also creates a fundamental problem of swath coverage versus signal-to-noise ratio. While the length of SAR antennas is typically fixed by mass and stowage or deployment constraints, the width is constrained by the desired illuminated swath width. As the across-track beam width which sets the swath size is proportional to the wavelength, a fixed swath size equates to a smaller antenna as the frequency is increased. This loss of antenna size reduces the two-way antenna gain to the second power, drastically reducing the signal-to-noise ratio of the SAR system. This fundamental constraint of high-frequency SAR systems is addressed by applying digital beam-forming (DBF) techniques to synthesize multiple simultaneous receive beams in elevation while maintaining a broad transmit illumination. Through this technique, a high antenna gain on receive is preserved, thereby reducing the required transmit power and thus enabling high-frequency SARs and high-precision InSAR from a single spacecraft