Zasada ostrożności, czyli teoretycznie ustrukturyzowana panika w czasach COVID-19

The article deals with the precautionary principle. A hypothesis was formulated that the actions of decision-makers during the COVID-19 epidemic prove that this principle is a useful and valuable instrument for supporting decisions. The experience of a pandemic, associated with the need to justify drastic preventive actions, neutralizes a large part of the arguments critical of the precautionary principle. At the same time, the same research material enables new conclusions to be drawn about the practical application of the precautionary principle. The first part of the article discusses the concept of the precautionary principle, its definition, and the most important voices critical of it. The second one demonstrates that the observed current practice of applying this principle neutralizes a significant part of the charges made against it. Moreover, starting from the same observations, new areas of reflection on the precautionary principle in the context of making economic decisions in the conditions of uncertainty have been identified.Artykuł dotyczy zasady ostrożności. Postawiono w nim hipotezę, że poczynania decydentów w okresie epidemii COVID-19 dowodzą, że zasada ta jest przydatnym i wartościowym instrumentem wspomagającym decyzje. Doświadczenie pandemii, związane z koniecznością usprawiedliwiania drastycznych działań prewencyjnych, neutralizuje znaczną część argumentów krytycznych względem zasady ostrożności. Jednocześnie, ten sam materiał badawczy umożliwia wyciągnięcie nowych wniosków na temat praktyki stosowania zasady ostrożności. W pierwszej części artykułu została omówiona koncepcja zasady ostrożności, jej definicja oraz najważniejsze głosy względem niej krytyczne. W drugiej wykazano, że obserwowana aktualnie praktyka stosowania tej zasadyneutralizuje istotną część zarzutów formułowanych pod jej adresem. Ponadto, wychodząc od tych samych obserwacji, zostały wskazane nowe, niedostatecznie przebadane jeszcze obszary refleksji nad zasadą ostrożności w kontekście podejmowania decyzji gospodarczych w warunkach niepewności

On the Complexity of Hazard-free Circuits

The problem of constructing hazard-free Boolean circuits dates back to the 1940s and is an important problem in circuit design. Our main lower-bound result unconditionally shows the existence of functions whose circuit complexity is polynomially bounded while every hazard-free implementation is provably of exponential size. Previous lower bounds on the hazard-free complexity were only valid for depth 2 circuits. The same proof method yields that every subcubic implementation of Boolean matrix multiplication must have hazards. These results follow from a crucial structural insight: Hazard-free complexity is a natural generalization of monotone complexity to all (not necessarily monotone) Boolean functions. Thus, we can apply known monotone complexity lower bounds to find lower bounds on the hazard-free complexity. We also lift these methods from the monotone setting to prove exponential hazard-free complexity lower bounds for non-monotone functions. As our main upper-bound result, we show how to efficiently convert a Boolean circuit into a bounded-bit hazard-free circuit with only a polynomially large blow-up in the number of gates. Previously, the best known method yielded exponentially large circuits in the worst case, so our algorithm gives an exponential improvement. As a side result, we establish the NP-completeness of several hazard detection problems

The role of economists in modern democracies. “Skin in the game” or an “honest broker”? Between N. Taleb and R. Pielke

Ekonomiści, i szerzej – naukowcy, którzy pragną, aby ich praca przyniosła korzyści konkretnym społecznościom bądź całej ludzkości – muszą zwrócić uwagę na rolę, w którą się wcielają w ramach debaty publicznej. Nieadekwatne dobranie roli może skończyć się instrumentalnym wykorzystaniem nauki oraz jej upolitycznieniem. W artykule zostały przeanalizowane dwie wizje dotyczące roli badacza we współczesnej debacie publicznej. Koncepcja N. Taleba dotycząca badacza „nadstawiającego karku” oraz podejście R. Pielke’a propagujące model tzw. uczciwego brokera. Ponieważ wizje obu uczonych są częściowo sprzeczne, toteż celem artykułu było uwypuklenie istniejących sprzeczności oraz wypracowanie stanowiska kompromisowego, które można określićmianem „uczciwego brokera nadstawiającego karku”. W badaniu przeprowadzonym z zastosowaniem analizy treści wykazano, że (1) badacze powinni aktywnie włączyć się w działalność publiczną i proaktywnie oddziaływać na decydentów związanych z obszarem ich ekspertyzy, (2) w pewnych obszarach naukowych (cechujących się niskim poziomem niepewności) – odpowiedzialność badacza powinna być wyższa. Oznacza to, że jego ekspozycja na ryzyko związane z konsekwencjami nieadekwatności predykcyjnej bądź błędnymi rekomendacjami, powinna być wyższa. Zagadnienie to jest istotne w kontekście możliwości skutecznego oddziaływania na politykę gospodarczą, szczególnie w obszarze tak kontrowersyjnym, jak dystrybucja dochodów.Economists, and more broadly – scientists who want their work to benefit specific communities or all of humanity – must pay attention to the role they play in public debate. An inadequate approach may result in the instrumental use of science and its politicisation. The article analyses two approachesregarding the role of the researcher in contemporary public debate. N. Taleb’s concept of a researcher with “skin in the game” and R. Pielke’s approach promoting the model of the so-called “honest broker”. Since these two approaches are partially contradictory, the aim of the article was to highlightthe existing contradictions and to work out a compromise position that can be described as an “honest broker with skin in the game”. A study conducted using content analysis showed that (1) researchers should actively engage in the public popularisation of their works and proactively influence decisionmakers related to their area of expertise, (2) in certain social sciences (characterised by a low level of uncertainty) – the responsibility of the researcher should be higher. It means that its exposure to the risk related to the consequences of false recommendations or bad predictions – should be higher. This issue is important in the context of the effectiveness of researchers’ involvement in policymaking, especially in a controversial area such as income distribution

Precautionary principle: heuristics of fear and heuristics of courage in the context of political economy

Artykuł dotyczy zasady ostrożności. Celem tekstu jest jej zdefiniowanie, interpretacja oraz powiązanie z polityką gospodarczą. Punktem wyjścia jest stwierdzenie istnienia niepewności sensu largo oraz naukowej niepewności sensu stricte. Te elementy sprawiają, że we współczesnej, coraz bardziej zglobalizowanej gospodarce pewne zagrożenia nabierają charakteru systemowego. Konieczne jest unikanie tego rodzaju niebezpieczeństw, jednak istniejące narzędzia analityczne konstruowane w ramach teorii decyzji czy zarządzania ryzykiem są do tego niewystarczające. Stwarza to przestrzeń dla zasady ostrożności, która w zależności od specyfiki sytuacji decyzyjnej przybiera postać heurystyki strachu bądź heurystyki odwagi.The main goal of the article is to deliver a definition, interpretation and a potential application of precautionary principle in the field of political economy. Uncertainty in general, and scientific uncertainty in particular make a contemporary, increasingly globalized economy much more vulnerable. On the top of that, the very nature of certain risks is changing from local to systemic. It is necessarry to avoid such threats, but the existing risk management tools are insuficient and/ or inadequate to do so. Such a situation creates a potencial space for a concept of precautionary principle which, depending on the nature of decision, manifest itself as a heuristics of fear or as a heuristics of courage

Resveratrol Increases Serum BDNF Concentrations and Reduces Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Contractility via a NOS-3-Independent Mechanism

Resveratrol is a polyphenol that presents both antineuroinflammatory properties and the ability to interact with NOS-3, what contributes to vasorelaxation. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF), a molecule associated with neuroprotection in many neurodegenerative disorders, is considered as an important element of maintaining stable cerebral blood flow. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are considered to be an important element in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration and a potential preventative target by agents which reduce the contractility of the vessels. Our main objectives were to define the relationship between serum and long-term oral resveratrol administration in the rat model, as well as to assess the effect of resveratrol on phenylephrine- (PHE-) induced contraction of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Moreover, we attempt to define the dependence of contraction mechanisms on endothelial NO synthase. Experiments were performed on Wistar rats (n=17) pretreated with resveratrol (4 weeks; 10 mg/kg p.o.) or placebo. Serum BDNF levels were quantified after 2 and 4 weeks of treatment with ELISA. Contraction force was measured on isolated and perfused tail arteries as the increase of perfusion pressure with a constant flow. Values of serum BNDF in week 0 were 1.18±0.12 ng/mL (treated) and 1.17±0.13 ng/mL (control) (p = ns). After 2 weeks of treatment, BDNF in the treatment group was higher than in controls, 1.52±0.23 ng/mL and 1.24±0.13 ng/mL, respectively. (p=0.02) Following 4 weeks of treatment, BDNF values were higher in the resveratrol group compared to control 1.64±0.31 ng/mL and 1.32±0.26 ng/mL, respectively (p=0.031). EC50 values obtained for PHE in resveratrol pretreated arteries were significantly higher than controls (5.33±1.7 × 10−7 M/L versus 4.53±1.2 × 10−8 M/L, p<0.05). These results show a significant increase in BDNF concentration in the resveratrol pretreated group. The reactivity of resistant arteries was significantly reduced for resveratrol pretreated vessels and this effect was partially NOS-3 independent

Intermittent Fasting in Cardiovascular Disorders—An Overview

Intermittent fasting is a form of time restricted eating (typically 16 h fasting and 8 h eating), which has gained popularity in recent years and shows promise as a possible new paradigm in the approach to weight loss and the reduction of inflammation, and has many potential long term health benefits. In this review, the authors will incorporate many aspects of fasting, mainly focusing on its effects on the cardiovascular system, involving atherosclerosis progression, benefits for diabetes mellitus type 2, lowering of blood pressure, and exploring other cardiovascular risk factors (such as lipid profile and inflammation)

Synchronization between computation and acquisition parts in the GEM detector-based measurement system

The presented system is used for monitoring of the plasma impurities in the tokamak. It is done by measuring radiation in Soft X-Ray range with the use of a GEM-based detector. Acquired data is transferred through the whole system with low latency. Presented system can be divided into many parts - detector, analog electronics, FPGA, PCIe transmission line and computer system with high-performance CPU. This work will concentrate on synchronization between FPGA, which write data to the memory on the CPU side and computational part, which is executed in the computer. In long-running measurements, there is a synchronization problems which can arise. There is a difference in variables based on which the execution time of both parts is dependent. Working on measurements of radiation of plasma impurities requires limits in terms of latency. This paper presents reasons, descriptions and solutions for such problems

Design and development of soft x-ray diagnostics based on GEM detectors at IPPLM

The search for new technologies in the field of plasma diagnostics entails the increasing demands on the radiative stability of the used materials due to development and usage of fusion facilities, where the study of processes occurring during the interaction of radiation with matter has become particularly important. Currently, a new X-ray imaging detection technology is required for tokamaks such as ITER. X-ray detectors that are being used in existing equipment may rapidly degrade due to large neutron fluxes characteristic for the tokamak environment. Despite the relatively wide use of semiconductor detectors to record SXR radiation (generally ionizing radiation), gas detectors are promising candidates that are suited much better for use in future fusion reactors given their resistance to neutron radiation. The most promising representative of the new gas detector class is the so called Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM), which is characterized by high amplification factor of the primary charge that is originated from photon absorption. Its main advantages are the compactness of the detector, good temporal and spatial resolutions, the ability to discriminate against photon energy and better neutron resistance compared to existing systems. All this makes such a detection system a potentially better candidate for soft X-ray measurements in the ITER and DEMO reactors. In this work, a new type of detection system based on GEM technology was proposed for soft X-ray measurements in the ITER reactor-oriented research, which is being developed at IPPLM