Cultural Conception of Friendship: What do Ecuadorians and Poles Expect from a Friend?

The present study investigates similarities and differences in perception of emotional support and conversational intimacy between friends. Burleson’s (1994) typology of emotional support and analysis of Polish vs. Latin American cultures served as the theoretical framework for this study. Participants (Ecuadorians=87, Poles=60) completed a questionnaire consisting of five episodes-dialogues between two women whose behaviors reflected two variables: (i) Type of emotional support: Low versus High person-centered; and (ii) Success versus Failure story. Both partners, in dyads, where emotional support was high person-centered, enjoyed more positive evaluation than friends in low person-centered support dyads. Poles were more sensitive to how the needs of the self-disclosing partner were served by her friend, while Ecuadorians paid more attention to the quality of interaction. Also, personal matters attracted more interest of Poles, unlike Ecuadorians, for whom a casual small talk was more enjoyable

Los rendimientos filosóficos de la noción de caída de Martin Heidegger

El pensamiento filosófico de Martin Heidegger está innegablemente vigente en nuestro siglo XXI. Su labor filosófica, continuando el proyecto fenomenológico de su maestro Edmund Husserl, supone una de las labores más extensas, ambiciosas e influyentes en la filosofía contemporánea desde el siglo XX. Su doctrina se desarrolló tomando como núcleo la pregunta por el sentido del ser y el propósito del aniquilamiento de la metafísica dominante en el mundo Occidental. Partiendo de esta base profundizaremos en el aparentemente oscuro tema de la existencia, tratando el carácter bidimensional del Dasein: su propiedad e impropiedad; su pertenecer-se a sí mismo y el encontrarse caídos en la inquieta pero tranquilizante cotidianidad. El propósito de este trabajo pretende comprender y analizar esta dicotomía para penetrar en el concepto de caída, término que aporta luz a nuestra comprensión de la cotidianidad presente y nuestra propia existencia.The philosophical inquiries of Martin Heidegger are still present in our 21st century. His philosophical quest, which is the continuation of the phenomenological project of his master Edmund Husserl, stands as one of the most ambitious, laborious and influent chores in contemporary philosophy from the 20th century. His doctrine was developed establishing at its core the question concerning Being and the purpose of the annihilation of the dominating metaphysics in the Western world. On the basis of this endeavour we will delve into the apparently obscure matter of existence, acquainting with the bi-dimensional character of Dasein between Authenticity and Inauthenticity, between the Ownmost and the Thrownness in the restless yet apparently tranquilizing average everydayness. The target of the paper is to understand and analyse this dichotomy in order to fathom in the concept of falling; term that brings light to our comprehension of the average everydayness nowadays as well as our own existence.Departamento de Filosofía (Filosofía, Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia, Teoría e Historia de la Educación, Filosofía Moral, Estética y Teoría de las Artes)Grado en Filosofí

Between energy security and energy market integration. Guidelines for the future development of the EU’s external energy policy in Europe’s neighbourhood. OSW Report, June 2011

For many years the European Union has been improving the efficient use of energy resources and yet the demand for energy in the EU continues to increase. When Europe belonged to one of the world’s key energy markets with relatively easy access to energy resources, growing energy needs were not seen as a source of concern. Today, however, as the competition for energy resources is intensifying and the global position of the EU energy market is being challenged by growing economies in the developing countries, above all China and India, the EU needs to adopt bold policies to guarantee the sustainable supply of energy. This report argues the EU needs to develop a fully-fledged external energy policy; i.e. a common, coherent, strategic approach that build bridges between the interests and needs of the EU integrated energy market on the one hand and supplier countries on the other. The EU’s external energy policy has two main objectives. The first one is to ensure a sustainable, stable and cost-effective energy supply. The second is to promote energy market integration and regulatory convergence with neighbouring countries (often but not always this supports the achievement of the first objective). However, in order to improve its effectiveness, the EU’s external energy policy needs to be seen in a broader economic and political context. Any progress in energy cooperation with third countries is contingent upon the EU’s general stance and offer to those countries

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

We Do Not Like It: A Likert-Type Scale Survey on the Attitudes of a Young Population towards the Transhumanistic Theory of Education

Transhumanists assume that future education may be purely based on technological stimulation. The question is: Do potential clients of education “like” such vision? In order to check this, we asked over one thousand two hundred young Poles to evaluate their identification with the transhumanistic theory of education. The results are quite surprising: its show that they disagree with the assumptions of this theory, while they rather agree with the postulates of more traditional (and no technology-based) concepts of education

Modular endolysin of Burkholderia AP3 phage has the largest lysozyme-like catalytic subunit discovered to date and no catalytic aspartate residue

Endolysins are peptidoglycan-degrading enzymes utilized by bacteriophages to release the progeny from bacterial cells. The lytic properties of phage endolysins make them potential antibacterial agents for medical and industrial applications. Here, we present a comprehensive characterization of phage AP3 modular endolysin (AP3gp15) containing cell wall binding domain and an enzymatic domain (DUF3380 by BLASTP), both widespread and conservative. Our structural analysis demonstrates the low similarity of an enzymatic domain to known lysozymes and an unusual catalytic centre characterized by only a single glutamic acid residue and no aspartic acid. Thus, our findings suggest distinguishing a novel class of muralytic enzymes having the activity and catalytic centre organization of DUF3380. The lack of amino acid sequence homology between AP3gp15 and other known muralytic enzymes may reflect the evolutionary convergence of analogous glycosidases. Moreover, the broad antibacterial spectrum, lack of cytotoxic effect on human cells and the stability characteristics of AP3 endolysin advocate for its future application development