Dyskusja

Oddajemy do rąk Czytelnika kolejny tom z serii „Podstawowe idee i koncepcje w geografii” pt. Dorobek polskiej geografii po konferencji w Rydzynie. Ocena krytyczna. [...] Właśnie minęło 30 lat od przełomowej dla polskiej geografii konferencji w Rydzynie (1983 r.). Miała ona duże znaczenie dla przemian teorii i praktyki geografii. W Rydzynie zwrócono uwagę na odmienne od dotychczasowych możliwości interpretacyjne rzeczywistości badawczej geografii rozwijane zwłaszcza w krajach anglosaskich. W kontekście tym przedstawiono nowe pola badawcze naszej dyscypliny zwłaszcza nieistniejącą wcześniej geografię społeczną jej podejścia radykalne i behawioralne oraz zaprezentowano perspektywę humanistyczną w badaniach geograficznych. Mimo trudności instytucjonalnych w przebijaniu się efektów tej innowacyjnej konferencji do teorii i empirii polskiej geografii, czas pokazał, że jej dorobek nie został zaprzepaszczony. Niniejszy tom składa się z 13 prac, w których autorzy podjęli teoretyczną refleksję nad rolą konferencji w Rydzynie dla polskiej geografii oraz krytyczny namysł nad dorobkiem geografii po konferencji

Report on alternatives to contentious inputs (WP SOIL)

This report is based on the structure of deliverable D5.1 of the Organic-PLUS project (Løes et al., 2018), where we studied the input of peat, plastic and fertilisers in 10 European countries participating in the project. Whereas that deliverable sought to explore the main inputs used in each country, in selected (mostly) horticultural crops where we expected the use of inputs to be most significant, this report summarises the input use across countries for peat, plastic and fertilisers, and puts a special emphasis on the cases where our informants told about alternatives to these, sometimes contentious, inputs. We have expanded on some alternatives where further work is to be conducted as a part of the Organic- PLUS project activities. We have also described other alternatives. However, as each of the topics (peat for growing media, plastic for mulching and fertilisers derived from non-certified organic production)is broad and complex, this report is not a complete review of all possible alternatives. Changes in crop rotations and farming system design may be required to completely phase out some contentious inputs. Such changes go beyond the scope of this report. The report gives a review of on alternatives to the contentious inputs peat, fossil based plastic, and fertilisers from conventional origin. For vegan organic production a special paragraph in the fertiliser chapter describes the challenges for this system. The reviewed alternatives are primarily based on those described in D5.1, for specific crops grown by farmers in the project countries. Here alternatives (substances and management measures) that are actually used in practice were gathered. Often the use of the contentious inputs is practiced because there is a lack of alternatives, or the efficiency of alternatives is not documented or more expensive. The main topics fertilisers, peat, and fossil based plastic are described and discussed in separate chapters

Deliverable 6.3: Environmental sustainability report (LCA)

This deliverable corresponds to work conducted in Task 6.3 on Environmental assessment. Environmental assessment is conducted following a life cycle perspective, specifically using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools recommended by the European Commission and the United Nations Environmental Programme in the frame of the Environment Footprint and Life Cycle Initiatives. This tool was selected due to its holistic vision, including both the whole production chain concept and multi criteria environmental indicators, as well as its quantitative, scientific approach to estimating environmental impacts. However, being aware of the limitations of LCA tools in its ability to assess the comprehensive sustainability of organic production systems, the current deliverable must be seen as part of a wider sustainability assessment, complemented by the additional assessments conducted in WP6 (e.g. Response Inducing Sustainability Evaluation (RISE) tool). In addition, it is the ambition of the Organic-PLUS project to contribute to improving the LCA methodology to make it more suitable for organic production systems. Therefore, facing the reality of highly variable practices within agricultural production systems, and that information about alternative inputs will increase over time; it is our ambition with this publication to provide a dynamic and easily adaptable deliverable. This means providing a transparent methodological guideline of the assessments conducted with reference scenarios, and the provision of calculation forms Excel files, which may be easily updated. We aim for a tool which will be useful beyond project completion and may facilitate stakeholder interaction. LCA has been applied in accordance with ISO standards 14040 and 14044 (2006a and b) and consequent amendments (2020 a, b, c). The methodological guideline established in the frame of EF initiative (EU-JRC, 2018) has been followed. Section 2 provides a detailed description of the methodology and models applied. According to the geographical distribution of the Organic-PLUS project partners and based on data availability, four different baseline scenarios were selected for organic production of aubergine, tomato, citrus and olive, as well as three scenarios for organic livestock production, sheep, pig and poultry. These scenarios were used as case studies to test the environmental performance of contentious inputs (e.g. copper, synthetic vitamins, peat) compared to their potential alternatives (e.g. potassium bicarbonate, thyme oil, composted organic matter). Section 3 explains the calculation forms created with the idea to have a dynamic deliverable tool, which allows changes in inputs, characterisation factors and the addition of new datasets. The practitioner can change the values in the LCI sheet for both the current scenario and alternative scenario. Section 4 provides a preliminary assessment of the suggested alternatives to replace or reduce the use of contentious inputs, whose information is being constantly improved and provided through experimentation. It is foreseen that this preliminary assessment will act as a feedback and aims to contribute to address environmental improvement of potential alternatives. A new alternative may not only mean a substitution of contentious inputs but could also include a change in practices. Therefore, because of the holistic perspective of LCA tools, consequences of implementing alternatives to contentious inputs in crop or livestock management may be accounted for. Results from the assessment of baseline scenarios show that application of copper and mineral oil leads to emissions which may be of major importance for freshwater ecotoxicity. For other impact categories, other inputs may become relevant. According to experimental trials conducted by ‘WP3 PLANT’ partners and feasibility data, we tested the substitution of copper and mineral oil with following products: Potassium hydrogen carbonate, low-copper fertilisers and thyme essential oil extracted from Thymus vulgaris. Results have shown that the alternative inputs cause very minor environmental impact. However, this shall be considered as a preliminary result since we have seen that for copper-based plant protection products, the toxicity effect depends on the type of metal speciation, which in turn depends on physic-chemical characteristic of the surrounding environment (soil and water), and in that regard specific studies are being conducted to include this behaviour in LCA (e.g. Peña et al 2017). The current LCA method does not include the characterisation of antibiotic impacts due to the lack of information regarding their effects on environmental factors assessed in LCA, therefore consequences on health and productivity remains unaddressed in LCA. In any case, the phasing out of these contentious inputs in organic agriculture seems to imply changes in livestock management rather than replacement with alternative products. The calculation forms created can be used to compare practices and add new models, which will result in a useful tool when more information is provided. Besides the traditional use of manure fertilisers coming from organic production systems, Organic-PLUS aims to study alternative products used as alternative fertilisers. From an environmental and circular economic perspective, we would consider the use of by-products or residues from other processes as potential alternative fertilisers, hence we discuss the different methodological approaches to this and highlight the importance of the potential treatments (e.g. composting, pelletising and anaerobic digestion) used to valorise these by-products into fertilisers, with a special emphasis on how emissions should be accounted for (section 4.3 and 4.4). The comparisons between peat-based growing media (seen as contentious) and compost made from locally derived materials (forest residues, horse manure), and fossil fuel-based mulching plastic foil vs. degradable plastic foil made from potato starch, showed that although the normalised and weighted value for the alternatives was lower than for the contentious inputs, there was no clear winner when looking at all the impact categories separately (section 4.5). Through a contribution analysis of the alternative compost growing media, the hotspots in its life cycle were found to be diesel consumption, transport of forest residues and emissions, all within or going to the compost plant. For the case of bio-plastic (section 4.6), an important parameter that can influence results was the thickness of the bio-plastic, thus, if the thickness was reduced, it would reduce the quantity of material manufactured (e.g., potato starch), and subsequently, the impacts could be reduced. The main critical aspects found within the life cycle inventory (LCI) of organic crop and livestock products include the lack of manufacturing datasets for inputs used in organic production systems such as several common plant protection products (PPPs) and alternative animal welfare products (e.g., antimicrobial essential oils) (Section 5.1). There are no available manufacturing datasets for biological control agents (BCAs), plant-derived essential oils (thymol, carvacrol, neem), mineral oil, pyrethrin, Spinosad and copper oxychloride. To advance in this aspect, new manufacturing LCI datasets for prevalent PPPs used in OA in Europe were developed in the frame of Organic-PLUS project (Spinosad, Bacillus subtilis, Chitosan and neem oil, specific LCIs can be found in Montemayor et al. (a, in preparation). Moreover, through the assessment conducted, other contentious inputs or hotspots aspects than the ones focused on in the Organic-PLUS project emerged. Section 5.2 provides a list of these, which are largely related to energy consumption, transport and water consumption, the latter mainly in Mediterranean regions. Toxicity and biodiversity impact categories have shown to be of special interest for organic production systems, and therefore relevant for Organic-PLUS. We have devoted special sections for each (section 5.3 and 5.4). In particular, biodiversity was found to be one of the most important and distinguishing aspects between organic and conventional systems in LCA. Hence, this aspect has been addressed in Organic-PLUS. After a review of existing approaches to deal with biodiversity loss in LCA studies, we have selected the work conducted by Knudsen et al. (2017). These authors developed characterisation factors (CFs) to include biodiversity impacts for organic and conventional agricultural production, based on standardised sampling of plant species richness in organic and conventional farms across six countries in Europe within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biome. However, in the context of Organic- PLUS and for agriculture in Europe, one limitation of this model is that it does not have CFs for the Mediterranean biome, one of the most agriculturally productive areas in Europe. Therefore, we have developed CFs for the Mediterranean biome using the methods described in Knudsen et al. (2017) and secondary plant richness data from organic grape, olive and arable crop farms in Spain, Italy, France and Greece (Montemayor et al., b, in preparation). An important output of the activities conducted to produce this deliverable (Task 6.3) was the detection of potential shortcomings as well as a provision of some solutions. LCA tools will continue to be developed and improved in the scientific community thus, we have also identified and prioritised potential aspects for further research beyond Organic-PLUS (Section 6). The LCA method was strictly used where it was appropriate for organic production, thus not forcing one sustainability analysis tool, like LCA, as a singular answer to all issues of organic (and conventional) production. In conclusion, through the environmental assessments conducted in Task 6.3 we can conclude that: 1) From a holistic environmental perspective, it can be stated that there are further environmental hotspot aspects, which may have major importance other than those being focussed in the Organic-PLUS project. We would highlight fossil fuel-based energy consumption such as diesel for labour operations, electricity consumption and transport. Additionally, water consumption, in particular, for dry Mediterranean regions could be an input with negative environmental implications, and hence should be seen as a contentious input. These issues are relevant for organic and conventional agriculture. 2) When alternatives to contentious inputs developed and studied in the Organic-PLUS project were considered, e.g. composted organic matter for peat in growing media, degradable plastic from potato starch for covering of soil, these products presented an improvement for some environmental aspects, but showed a worse behaviour for others. From the revealed “hotspots”, it can be derived where efforts can be put if the goal is to develop alternatives which score better in LCA. 3) LCA methodology may be useful to assess environmental effects of agricultural production, but requires more development to better grasp the particularities of organic production systems. Hence, additional sustainability assessment tools (e.g., RISE) will be applied to account for other aspects of organic agriculture at the farm-level. 4) The present publication includes adaptable calculation forms (implemented in a spreadsheet programme e.g. Microsoft Excel), which can allow for updating and creation of new scenarios. 5) Several proposals to improve datasets for organic production have been presented. 6) We have contributed to the development of characterisation factors for biodiversity indicators in agricultural production following the work initiated by Knudsen et al (2017). 7) Proposals for further research to improve the environmental assessment of organic production systems were made, emphasising that the current dominating impact categories are not well suited to discriminate between various farming practices

Technologie budownictwa podziemnego w działalności Przedsiębiorstwa Budowy Kopalń

Tyt. z nagłówka.Bibliogr. s.397.Dostępny również w formie drukowanej.STRESZCZENIE: Artykuł prezentuje historię i dorobek Przedsiębiorstwa Budowy Kopalń PeBeKa SA Część pierwsza przedstawia historię firmy - 45 lat doświadczeń w budownictwie podziemnym i powierzchniowym. Część druga omawia osiągnięcia budownictwa górniczego, specjalistyczne technologie inżynieryjne i możliwości PeBeKa SA w okresie 45 lat istnienia: głębienie szybów, budowę wyrobisk kopalnianych, mrożenie górotworu, tunele drogowe i kolejowe, warszawskie metro, technologie bezwypadkowe, budowę i remonty rurociągów wodnych i kanalizacyjnych, zabezpieczenie i renowację Kopalni Soli "Wieliczka", budowę i wyposażenie obiektów przemysłowych i użyteczności publicznej, budownictwo mieszkaniowe. SŁOWA KLUCZOWE: budowa szybów, mrożenie, budownictwo tunelowe, budownictwo podziemne i powierzchniowe, roboty palowe. ABSTRACT: This paper presents the history of development and the output of Przedsiębiorstwo Budowy Kopalń PeBeKa S.A. In the first part of the paper the history of the company - 45 years of experience in civil and underground engineering is described. Second part covers achievements in mining construction, specialist engineering technologies and potential of PeBeKa SA during its 45 years of existence: shaft sinking, driving mine excavations, ground freezing, road and railway tunnels building, Warsaw underground, trenchless technologies, construction of water and sewage pipes, protection and reconstruction of the "Wieliczka" Salt Mine, construction and furnishing of industrial plants, housing. The third part, summary, presents awards, distinctions and certificates obtained by the company. KEYWORDS: shaft sinking, ground freezing, tunneling, civil and underground engineering, piling machine

Influence of Me2SO and incubation time on papain activity studied using fluorogenic substrates.

Papain activity in a buffer containing Me2SO was studied using fluorogenic substrates. It was found that the number of active sites of papain decreases with increasing Me2SO concentration whereas the incubation time, in a buffer containing 3% Me2SO does not affect the number of active sites. However, an increase of papain incubation time in the buffer with 3% Me2SO decreased the initial rate of hydrolysis of Z-Phe-Arg-Amc as well as Dabcyl-Lys-Phe-Gly-Gly-Ala-Ala-Edans. Moreover, an increase of Me2SO concentration in working buffer decreased the initial rate of papain-catalysed hydrolysis of both substrates. A rapid decrease of the initial rate (by up to 30%) was observed between 1 and 2% Me2SO. Application of the Michaelis-Menten equation revealed that at the higher Me2SO concentrations the apparent values of kcat/Km decreased as a result of Km increase and kcat decrease. However, Me2SO changed the substrate binding process more effectively (Km) than the rate of catalysis kcat.

Influence of organic solvents on papain kinetics

Papain activity was studied in water-organic solvent mixtures using the fluorogenic substrate Dabcyl-Lys-Phe-Gly-Gly-Ala-Ala-Edans. The increase of organic solvent (MeOH, EtOH, iPrOH, TFE, MeCN, (MeO)2Et and DMF) concentration in the mixture caused a substantial decrease the initial rate of papain-catalyzed hydrolysis. Moreover, the number of papain active sites decreased with the increase of DMF and MeOH concentration

Comparison of Physical and Thermal Properties of Mulching Films Made of Different Polymeric Materials

The development of polymer materials causes their huge expansion into various areas of everyday life, as well as plant and animal production. Their chemical resistance, good physical properties, and ease of processing result in an increasing use of this group of materials. Outdoor plant production both in open plantations and greenhouses requires various types of materials supporting the vegetation process as well as protecting against pests and weeds. A large group here are various types of materials used for covers of field crops, the main role of which is to prevent uncontrolled and excessive growth of weeds and thus reduce the use of herbicides as plant protection products. Cover films also have other important functions, such as reducing direct water evaporation, better moisture retention around the root system, increasing soil temperature (faster vegetation), etc. However, as always, the problem of introducing new material into agriculture production and the difficulty of its disposal arises. In recent times, farmers’ interest in various forms of mulch to protect crops and increase yields has grown significantly. In the publication, the authors attempted to analyze selected commercial properties, but also mulch produced on a laboratory scale, based on biodegradable and petroleum-derived materials

Performance of Biodegradable Biochar-Added and Bio-Based Plastic Clips for Growing Tomatoes

Increasing quantities of waste from using conventional plastic in agriculture and horticulture is one of the most pressing issues nowadays. Conventional plastic accessories (e.g., mulching films, clips, pots, strings, etc.) are typically fossil-derived, non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle after their use. Therefore, there is a need for biodegradable and bio-based alternatives with similar properties to conventional plastics, which can be disposed of through degradation in water, soil or compost under specific conditions. This work investigated the properties and the performance of biodegradable biochar-added and bio-based stem and arch support clips. In addition, the investigated clips were composted with tomato residues during 16 week laboratory composting. The scope of this work included: (1) the production of stem and arch support clips in a pilot installation using injection molding technology, (2) an analysis of their chemical composition, biodegradability, disintegration and phytotoxicity, (3) an evaluation of their performance in the greenhouse cultivation of tomatoes and (4) an evaluation of the composting of the clips with on-farm organic waste as an end-of-waste management method. The stem support clips during industrial composting (58 °C) degraded at 100% after 20 weeks, whereas during home composting (30 °C) the degradation was slow, and after 48 weeks the maximum weight loss was 5.43%. Disintegration during industrial composting resulted in 100% fragmentation into particles with sizes less than 2 mm. Phytotoxicity tests demonstrated that the substrates after industrial and home composting did not have a negative effect on the growth of the test plants (i.e., mustard, wheat, cuckooflower). The biochar-added stem support clips proved to be satisfactory alternatives to conventional non-biodegradable, fossil-derived clips and can be disposed of through composting. However, more work is needed to determine the optimal conditions for composting to ensure rapid degradation of the clips in relevant environments

End-of-life management of biodegradable plastic dog poop bags through composting of green waste

Plastic waste derived from plastic dog poop bags (DPBs) could be considered a negligible source of plastic waste. However, it is estimated that this kind of waste contributes to 0.6% of the total plastic waste generated worldwide, and it is expected to increase in the following years. Plastic dog poop bags can be replaced with biodegradable and bio-based alternatives. These alternatives can biodegrade in various environments such as composting, soil, or water and thus allow for end-of-life management without the risk of contaminating the environment with microplastics. However, not all biodegradable bags are always compostable. In this study, we tested composting as the end-of-life management of selected biodegradable dog poop bags (i.e., prototypes of bags and commercially available bags). We analyzed the biodegradation of selected biodegradable plastic dog poop bags during the composting of green waste in laboratory composting reactors after 4 weeks and 90 days of composting. All the investigated DPBs decomposed 100% after 90 days of composting. However, the fresh compost obtained after the 90-day composting of green waste mixed with the investigated bags containing dog poop did not demonstrate high quality