The objective character of virtues in Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology

Marsilio Ficino did not write a methodical, complete treatise on ethics, but the ethical questions are discussed in most of his writings, including his opus magnum entitled Theologia Platonica. The most important sources for Ficino’s ethical considerations are Platonic and Neoplatonic texts and this is strongly reflected in Theologia; one of the aspects of this dependence regards the nature of virtues: they are seen as unchangeable, indivisible and that is why they are objective. The main purpose of the paper is to present the objective character of virtues in Platonic Theology by invoking their definition, role and status with references to Plato’s works.The research was funded by the Polish National Science Centre within the FUGA programme for postdoctoral fellows based on the decision nr: DEC- 2013/08/S/HS1/00509. This paper was presented during International Plato Society — Midterm Meeting “Platonic Moral Realism”, March 13–15, 2015 Emory Univeristy — Atlanta, Ga

Ownership Transformations of State-owned Enterprises with Special Consideration of Direct Privatisation in Poland in the Years 2004-2008

The main goal of this article is defining the present state of the process of ownership transformations in Polish state-owned enterprises and progress in this process during the last five years. The main research hypothesis formulated in the article was verified by means of an analysis of data published by the Central Statistical Office concerning the number of state-owned enterprises covered by ownership transformations. The accepted scope of this article encompassed: concepts, objectives and methods of ownership transformation in Polish state-owned enterprises, as well as different issues connected with direct privatization by means of passing state-owned enterprises for use against payment to employee-owned companies.Zasadniczym celem artykułu jest określenie bieżącego stanu procesu przekształceń własnościowych polskich przedsiębiorstw państwowych oraz jego przebiegu w ciągu ostatnich pięciu lat. Weryfikacja sformułowanej w opracowaniu głównej hipotezy badawczej została dokonana w oparciu o analizę danych Głównego Urzędu Statystycznego dotyczących liczby przedsiębiorstw państwowych objętych procesem przekształceń własnościowych. W kontekście przyjętego zakresu tematycznego przedstawiono pojęcie, cele i metody przekształceń własnościowych polskich przedsiębiorstw państwowych oraz problematykę związaną z prywatyzacją bezpośrednią realizowaną w drodze oddania przedsiębiorstwa państwowego do odpłatnego korzystania spółce pracowniczej

Smith on Self-Command and Moral Judgment

In A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume argues that moral judgments are the product of sentiment. The mechanism of sympathy allows individuals to enter into a common point of view in order to produce judgments that are truly moral, and not merely self-interested. Hume argues that the common point of view is the standard that moral judgments are subjected to. I argue that the common point of view is an inadequate standard for distinguishing between proper and improper moral judgments. The common point of view is inadequate because it is subjective and unreflective. In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith offers an account of moral judgment that has an adequate standard for distinguishing between proper and improper moral judgments. Smith avoids the problems with Hume’s account due to his distinction between partial and impartial spectators and the role that self-command plays in his theory of moral judgment

Predictability of catastrophic events: material rupture, earthquakes, turbulence, financial crashes and human birth

We propose that catastrophic events are "outliers" with statistically different properties than the rest of the population and result from mechanisms involving amplifying critical cascades. Applications and the potential for prediction are discussed in relation to the rupture of composite materials, great earthquakes, turbulence and abrupt changes of weather regimes, financial crashes and human parturition (birth).Comment: Latex document of 22 pages including 6 ps figures, in press in PNA

Wprowadzenie

Metody mierzenia efektów realizacji funkcji personalnej we współczesnych przedsiębiorstwach. Zarządzanie ryzykiem jako czynnik kreowania wartości przedsiębiorstwa. Zabezpieczenie płynności finansowej w przedsiębiorstwie. Rating nadzoru korporacyjnego.Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00

Emergence of common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.) is influenced by the landscape position in which seeds developed

In a 2-yr field study, we evaluated the emergence and early growth of Chenopodium album L. (common lambsquarters) seedlings as affected by the landscape position in which the seeds (i) developed, (ii) overwintered, and (iii) were planted. Results indicated that a higher proportion of seeds originating from lower slope positions emerged compared with seeds originating from the backslope or upper slope. The timing of emergence was the same for all seed source locations. There was no influence of overwintering location on weed emergence. Regardless of the seed source, we observed faster emergence and growth of C. album planted in the lower slope, where soil conditions were more conducive to growth. These experiments will support the development of new strategies and decision aids to improve weed management

Transformation Kinetics and Mechanism of the Sulfonylurea Herbicides Pyrazosulfuron Ethyl and Halosulfuron Methyl in Aqueous Solutions

Little is known about how popular herbicides react and degrade in soil or aquatic environments. Two of these herbicides include Pyrazosulfuron Ethyl (PE) and Halosulfuron Methyl (HM), which are part of the sulfonylurea herbicide category. Both are post-emergence herbicides and are so highly effective that they need to be applied only at rates of grams per hector. Because these herbicides inhibit the key enzyme that participates in protein synthesis in plants, they can have a major effect on sensitive agricultural areas such as legumes or pastures for grazing. Typically these types of herbicides only degrade because of microbial influences or chemical hydrolysis. To understand the pathway and conditions for chemical hydrolysis degradation, ISTC’s Wei Zheng collaborated with researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct several laboratory experiments. Full results reported in Zheng, Wei et al (2008). "Transformation Kinetics and Mechanism of the Sulfonylurea Herbicides Pyrazosulfuron Ethyl and Halosulfuron Methyl in Aqueous Solutions." Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56(16), 7367-7372. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf800899eOpe

Jak wykazać nieśmiertelność. O Kompendium „Teologii Platońskiej” Marsilia Ficina. Wstęp do przekładu

How to Prove Immortality. On Compendium of “Platonic Theology” by Marsilio FicinoThe immortality of the individual human soul is one of the most debated philosophical issues in the Renaissance. Marsilio Ficino devoted numerous treatises to this problem, not only his most popular work Platonic Theology on the immortality of souls, but also some of the texts called opuscula theologica, including the Compendium of “Platonic Theology”. The article is an introduction to the translation of the Compendium into Polish, containing information about this essay and the analysis of its content. In the treatise, the author presents the ontic structure of reality (mainly its non-corporeal part), which has got Neoplatonic and Christian dimension, and demonstrates the necessity of the existence of First Principle-God, from whom any other being comes. He focuses on divine attributes, recognizing that cognition of them determines the knowledge of everything else, including the human soul. The direct origin of the soul from God and its ability to know the unchanging forms of things is, according to Ficino, evidence of its immortality.Jak wykazać nieśmiertelność. O Kompendium „Teologii Platońskiej” Marsilia FicinaNieśmiertelność ludzkiej duszy była jednym z najczęściej dyskutowanych problemów filozoficznych w epoce renesansu. Marsilio Ficino poświęcił temu zagadnieniu wiele traktatów – nie tylko swoją najbardziej popularną pracę Teologia Platońska na temat nieśmiertelności dusz, ale także teksty zwane opuscula theologica, w tym Kompendium Teologii Platońskiej. Artykuł stanowi wstęp do tłumaczenia Kompendium na język polski, zawiera informacje na jego temat oraz analizę przedstawionych w nim treści. W traktacie autor ukazuje ontyczną strukturę rzeczywistości (głównie jej sferę niecielesną), która ma wymiar neoplatoński i chrześcijański, oraz dowodzi konieczności istnienia Pierwszej Przyczyny-Boga, od którego pochodzi każda istota. Koncentruje się na boskich atrybutach, uznając, że ich poznanie determinuje wiedzę o wszystkim innym, w tym o ludzkiej duszy. Bezpośrednie pochodzenie duszy od Boga i jej zdolność do poznania niezmiennych form rzeczy jest zdaniem Ficina dowodem na jej nieśmiertelność

The influence of weather conditions on traffic incidents in the example of Łódź Voivodeship

This article presents the influence of weather conditions on traffic incidents in the Łódź Voivodeship in 2007‒2011. Data used for this analysis come from the website www.ncdc.noaa.gov and refer to the meteorological station Łódź-Lublinek, because it is the most representative for the Łódź Voivodeship. Data on the number of car accidents and collisions come from the database of the Police Station in Zgierz. The analysis showed that in this five-year period adverse weather conditions were responsible for a small percentage of car accidents and collisions. A high number of traffic incidents occurred on days with significant change in the average daily pressure, as well as when sleet and rain occurred, especially after a long time without precipitation. All minima occurred on non-working days, and were associated with little traffic. It is difficult to determine which biometeorological elements are absolutely responsible for the increase in the number of traffic incidents, because car accidents and collisions are caused by complexity of many processes. The causes also include changes in traffic intensity, technical condition of the vehicle, speeding, failure to give right of way and others.W niniejszym artykule zaprezentowano wpływ zjawisk atmosferycznych na zdarze-nia drogowe w województwie łódzkim w latach 2007‒2011. Dane, które posłużyły do analizy pochodzą ze strony internetowej www.ncdc.noaa.gov i odnoszą się do stacji Łódź-Lublinek, gdyż jest ona uznawana za najbardziej reprezentatywną dla całego województwa. Dane dotyczące liczby wypadków i kolizji pochodzą z bazy Komendy Powiatowej Policji w Zgierzu. Analiza ukazała, że w badanym pięcioleciu niesprzyjające warunki meteorologiczne odpowiadały za niewielki procent wypadków i kolizji. Wysoka liczba zdarzeń drogowych wystąpiła w dniach ze znaczną zmianą średniego dobowego ciśnienia atmosferycznego oraz kiedy pojawiły się opady deszczu i deszczu ze śniegiem, przede wszystkim po dłuższym okresie bezopadowym. Wszystkie minima wystąpiły w dzień wolny od pracy, a więc sprzyjało im niewielkie natężenie ruchu drogowego. Trudno jest jednoznacznie stwierdzić, które z elementów biometeorologicznych będą bezwzględnie odpowiadać za wzrost liczby zdarzeń drogowych, ponieważ do wypadków i kolizji dochodzi na skutek złożoności wielu procesów. Jest to także zmienność natężenia ruchu drogowego, stan techniczny pojazdu, nadmierna prędkość, nieudzielenie pierwszeństwa przejazdu i inne

Quantification of Persistence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Contrasting Soils

Persistence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 in the environment is a major concern to vegetable and fruit growers where farms and livestock production are in close proximity. The objectives were to determine the effects of preplant fumigation treatment on the survival of E. coli O157:H7 in two soils and the effects of indigenous bacterial populations on the survival of this pathogen. Real-time PCR and plate counts were used to quantify the survival of E. coli O157:H7 in two contrasting soils after fumigation with methyl bromide (MeBr) and methyl iodide (MeI). Ten days after fumigation, E. coli O157:H7 counts were significantly lower (P = .0001) in fumigated soils than in the non-fumigated. Direct comparison between MeBr and MeI within each soil indicated that these two fumigants showed similar impacts on E. coli O157:H7 survival. Microbial species diversity as determined by DGGE was significantly higher in clay soil than sandy soil and this resulted in higher initial decline in population in clay soil than in sandy soil. This study shows that if soil is contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, fumigation alone may not eliminate the pathogen, but may cause decrease in microbial diversity which may enhance the survival of the pathogen