Poland

Today’s young people in Central and Eastern Europe are the first cohort with­out direct experience of the socialist system. For those in Poland, the opportu­nities of the free market, free movement within the EU, and democratic stand­ards have become the norm. Thousands of young Poles regularly take to the streets, not only to demand higher wages and improved working conditions for doctors or teachers, but also to protest against the judicial reforms that the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party undertook in 2017. At the same time, more Polish youth than expected voted for PiS in local elections in 2018.

A ZOiS survey conducted in February 2019 provides insights into the political attitudes of young Poles, their political engagement, and their views on and experiences with other countries in the run-up to two important elections: the parliamentary vote on 13 October 2019 and the presidential election due by May 2020 at the latest.

Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course at Koberwitz (now Kobierzyce), in the summer of 1924, was the gateway event that led to the development of biodynamic agriculture and, subsequently, organic agriculture. The present paper identifies for the first time the 111 attendees of that course. The list reveals that 'Koberwitzers', as they called themselves, were a well credentialed and capable group of individuals, some of whom went on to champion and develop Rudolf Steiner's ideas about agriculture and other fields. The present paper revises a prior analysis of the Koberwitzers. For each Koberwitzer, the list reveals, the name, hometown, occupation, and accommodation during the course. Thirty one percent of Koberwitzers were women. Thirty eight percent were associated directly with agriculture (including farmer, estate manager, and estate owner), 6% of attendees were creatives (including writer, author, artist and editor), and a further 6% were priests. These three occupational categories, viz. Agriculture, Creative and Priest, together account for 50% of Koberwitzer occupations (and 72% of the known occupations). There remains for further scholarship to populate gaps in the listing: the gender of one Koberwitzer remains unidentified; one hometown (and country) remains unidentified; 33 occupations remain unidentified; and 51 accommodations remain unidentified. At the time of the Koberwitz course, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was mortally ill. The course was never repeated,. It was up to the Koberwitzers to progress Rudolf Steiner's call for the development of a differentiated natural agriculture without synthetic chemicals. The Koberwitzers met the call. There are now 251,842 certified biodynamic hectares in 55 countries, included in the 71,514,583 certified organic hectares in 186 countries.

The concept of intelligence and security adopted in post-1989 Poland has been characterized by redundant content, wide scope and a catch-all approach to state security. Similarly, Poland’s intelligence community has been dispersed, loosely coordinated, heavily burdened with political tasks and hardly efficient. At the outset, it was made up of four specialized services: The Internal Security Agency (ABW), the Foreign Intelligence Agency (AW), the Military Intelligence Service (SWW) and the Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW). However, as time went by, intelligence functions were granted to other institutions and
bodies in charge of internal and territorial security - like the police, border guards, financial intelligence units and anti-corruption offices. Furthermore, the absence of a clearinghouse meant that lots of information acquired from different sources was locked in separate institutions and left practically useless.
Explaining this state of affairs is not simple. In general, its causes and conditions can be found in two different bundles of variables, dealing with geostrategic determinants (cooperation with the US, membership in the NATO and the UE, Russian penetration) on the one hand, and several significant weaknesses
of the political system on the other, the latter manifesting themselves in politicisation, “party politics” and interpersonal animosities. While the burden of the Communist past was hard to throw off immediately and plans for building up a completely new intelligence community gave way to a cautious restructuring of
the security sector, the verification of secret services was selective and generally friendly for the “old guard”. These processes have resulted in overlapping competences,
institutional frictions and legislative incoherence.
In consideration of this overall context, the purpose of this study is threefold: First, to describe the evolution of the Polish intelligence community, starting from the assumption that since the fall of the Communist regime the secret services in Poland have suffered the chronic ailment of politicisation and instrumental treatment by subsequent governing coalitions. Second, to give a picture of the relevant organisations and structures which form the Polish intelligence community. Finally, to point out the relations to, and the activities of, the two most influential external powers on Polish security, Russia and the
United States.

One of the most influential alchemical authors of the early modern period was Michael Sendivogius whose early life is shrouded in mystery. He may be labelled the most famous Polish scientific writer between Copernicus and Marie Skłodowska-Curie, but because of the difficulties involved in researching the biography of any alchemist, there has been relatively little interest in him among Polish historians. The early work of Roman Bugaj (author of the still fundamental monograph) and Włodzimierz Hubicki (who made his research available to the international community) has been continued only by the English-born Zbigniew Szydło and the author of this article. The roots of many legends about Sendivogius were three mid-17th century short biographies, none of which is trustworthy, so it is crucial to verify the received myth and the version constructed in the 1960's and 1970's with primary sources and evidence from the recent "new historiography of alchemy". The present ar...

Una versión reducida del texto “An Unexpected Twist of Ideology. Neoliberalism and the Collapse
of the Soviet Bloc publicado en "Praktyka Teoretyczna", núm. 5, 2012. Traducción de Luis Martínez
Andrade. Metapolítica: marzo 2013.
The full English version also at Academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/11798198/An_Unexpected_Twist_of_Ideology._Neoliberalism_and_the_Collapse_of_the_Soviet_Bloc

Eine große Zahl herausragender Denkmäler der mittelalterlichen Baukunst befindet sich auf dem Gebiet des heutigen Polen. Zwischen Oder und Weichsel liegen sowohl Kernlandschaften Polens als auch Territorien, die vormals dem deutschen Kulturraum angehörten. Es zeigen sich im gesamten Raum vielfältige und einander durchdringende Phänomene der deutsch-polnischen Kulturbeziehungen. Kunsthistoriker aus Deutschland und Polen haben in einem gemeinsamen Projekt, angesiedelt am kunsthistorischen Institut der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Prof. Matthias Müller), erstmals in deutscher Sprache eine umfassende Gesamtdarstellung der mittelalterlichen Architektur in den historischen Landschaften von Großpolen, Kleinpolen, Masowien, Schlesien, Hinterpommern/Neumark sowie des Deutschordenslands Preußen verfasst. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit liegen nun, unter der Herausgeberschaft von Prof. Dethard von Winterfeld (Mainz) und Prof. Christofer Herrmann (Danzig), in einer zweibändigen und reich bebilderten Publikation vor. Das Buch richtet sich an ein deutschsprachiges Publikum, dem heute die großartigen Denkmäler östlich der Oder – in denen sich deutsche und polnische Geschichte widerspiegelt – kaum mehr bekannt sind. Für die Wissenschaft wird zugleich eine breite Materialgrundlage für weiterführende Studien geschaffen.

Funding models influence provision and development of palliative care services. As palliative care integrates into mainstream health care provision, opportunities to develop funding mechanisms arise. However, little has been reported on what funding models exist or how we can learn from them. To assess national models and methods for financing and reimbursing palliative care. Initial literature scoping yielded limited evidence on the subject as national policy documents are difficult to identify, access and interpret. We undertook expert consultations to appraise national models of palliative care financing in England, Germany, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Wales. These represent different levels of service development and a variety of funding mechanisms. Funding mechanisms reflect country-specific context and local variations in care provision. Patterns emerging include the following: Pr...

The European Union (EU) has closely correlated different aspects of the peace process in Bosnia with progress towards European accession. The ‘power of attraction’ of EU membership would presumably induce the Bosnian authorities to accept the adaptation costs of political and economic transformation. However, the Europeanisation approach has not produced the expected results. The track record of the EU’s policies towards Bosnia represents a paradigmatic case of what would happen if almost nothing works as efficiently as in the case of the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The article investigates the causes of EU policy failure in Bosnia and claims that the EU has not effectively responded to three challenges: 1) adjust the process to the needs of an ethnically divided post-war state; 2) preserve the credibility of accession conditionality, and 3) convey the proper messages on how to comply with EU rules. Therefore, the article argues for a more cohesive and consistent EU approach towards Bosnia.

Slavs in the Making takes a fresh look at archaeological evidence from parts of Slavic-speaking Europe north of the Lower Danube, including the present-day territories of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.

Nothing is known about what the inhabitants of those remote lands called themselves during the sixth century, or whether they spoke a Slavic language. The book engages critically with the archaeological evidence from these regions, and questions its association with the "Slavs" that has often been taken for granted. It also deals with the linguistic evidence—primarily names of rivers and other bodies of water—that has been used to identify the primordial homeland of the Slavs, and from which their migration towards the Lower Danube is believed to have started. It is precisely in this area that sociolinguistics can offer a serious alternative to the language tree model currently favoured in linguistic paleontology. The question of how best to explain the spread of Slavic remains a controversial issue. This book attempts to provide an answer, and not just a critique of the method of linguistic paleontology upon which the theory of the Slavic migration and homeland relies.

The book proposes a model of interpretation that builds upon the idea that (Common) Slavic cannot possibly be the result of Slavic migration. It addresses the question of migration in the archaeology of early medieval Eastern Europe, and makes a strong case for a more nuanced interpretation of the archaeological evidence of mobility. It will appeal to scholars and students interested in medieval history, migration, and the history of Eastern and Central Europe.

This review essay on Jewish "traditionalism" (Hasidism, musar, Orthodoxy,etc.) argues that, notwithstanding a past tendency among historians to magnify secularist trends within modern East European Jewry, several new works suggest a revitalization of traditionalism in the region during the modern era.

Zadłużenie gospodarstw domowych rośnie, zaś oszczędności maleją. Coraz większą jego część stanowi kredyt hipoteczny. Kredyt hipoteczny to splot zobowiązań i oczekiwań, które produkują kapitał, a zarazem określoną przyszłość gospodarstw domowych z „hipoteką”, grupy społecznej kredytobiorców-właścicieli mieszkań i samego kapitalizmu. Hipoteka, coraz silniej obecna w rozwiniętych gospodarkach wiąże życie zadłużonych z globalną cyrkulacją kapitału, określa położenie klasowe i skupia coraz więcej, wielowymiarowych interesów . Angażuje wartości oraz wyobrażenia o lepszym życiu. Bez nich kapitał byłby bezwartościowy, podobnie jak kredyt hipoteczny bez zastawu.

Review concerns the joint publication of authors led by Dominik Nowakowski from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroclaw. It should be seen as the final result of queries and research as well as of the field verification, devoted to the medieval rural settlements within the limits of today’s Lubin County (northern part of Lower Silesia). The project involved historians, archaeologists, geographers (specializing themselves in anthropogenic changes of landscape and in historical cartography). The reviewed book, published as the interdisciplinary compendium, delivers all the most important data for further studies. Due to the fact that it is the first volume of the Dictionary of Silesian villages in the Middle Ages, the authors had also to challenge to establish the adequate methodology, that could be followed in subsequent parts of the Dictionary. In my opinion they succeeded in this field as well.

The results of the investigation of archeoentomological materials from
Wrzeœnica (NW Poland) are presented. 209 specimens belonging to Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) were noted: 202 of Oryctes nasicornis, 5 – Dorcus parallelipipedus, 1 – Oxythyrea funesta and 1 – Aphodius sp. The role of the archeoentomological materials in process of reconstructing the environment conditions in ancient periods is discussed.

In 1883, Józef Rostafiński (1859-1928), a botanist and professor at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (then Austria-Hungary), published a survey regarding the names and uses of plants in the Polish lands. The most complete version of the questionnaire contained questions regarding approximately 130 species. One of the responses, by Antoni Szymański, is published here,

BACKGROUND The aim of this paper is a retrospective assessment of artificial hip joint function and stability of cementless stems of varied design used in the treatment of deformative and degenerative dysplastic changes in the hip. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study enrolled 182 patients treated by cementless total hip arthroplasty. The average age of the patients was 44 years and the follow-up time ranged from 2 to 22 years (16.7 years on average). The following features were assessed: endoprosthesis survival judex according to Kaplan-Meier's criteria, functional outcome of the treatment on the Harris Hip Score (HHS) and endoprosthesis stability and changes in periprosthetic bone tissue over time, according to McGovern, Callaghan and Engh. RESULTS The study revealed a considerable importance of the method chosen for matching the type of endoprosthesis to the anatomy of the dysplastic hip. The highest probability of long endoprosthesis survival time, correct implant placement and g...

Recombinant human activated protein C (drotrecogin alfa [activated]--DAA) demonstrated in Phase III controlled clinical studies significant reduction of mortality in patients with severe sepsis and high risk of death. The aim of the study was to assess the therapeutic efficacy of DAA in patients included in the National Severe Sepsis Register in Poland. The analysis included 3233 cases of severe sepsis reported between 04.2003 and 11.2005. 302 patients (9.3%) were treated with DAA. The clinical course of the disease in DAA and non-DAA treatment groups was compared. Logistic regression models for the effects of independent variables on the risk of death (dependent variable) were developed. In the patients treated with DAA, the relative risk of death was lower by 31% than in those who were not treated. In a multivariate logistic regression model, the use of DAA was, independently of the patient's age, severity of the clinical condition and type of organ dysfunction, the most signi...

The latest socio-economical changes have had a great impact on the perception of health issues. The definition of health according to the WHO is often citied here as a kind of postulate of psychical, psychological and sociological well being. Health education takes an important part in propagating ideas of promoting and protecting health and also shaping life skills. Health education especially affects schools but it also has an impact on family and local community. Contemporary definitions of health education underline that it is also a process of learning how to take care of one's own health and that of others'. This attitude to health corresponds with the changing health problems affecting society. Despite implementing many programs and actions promoting health and preventing diseases on a world and European scale, there still exist many problems in this area. They are particularly due to disproportionate access to medical help and technological development resulting from...

The book examines the relationship between national identity and foreign policy discourses on Russia in Germany, Poland and Finland in the years 2005–2015. The case studies focus on the Nord Stream pipeline controversy, the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, the post-electoral protests in Russian cities in 2011–2012 and the Ukraine crisis. The book argues that divergent foreign policy narratives of Russia are rooted in different national identity constructions. Most significantly, the Ukraine crisis and the Nord Stream controversy have exposed how deep-rooted and different perceptions of the Russian Other in EU member states are still influential and lead to conflicting national agendas for foreign policy towards Russia.

The aim of the study was to analyze the influence of body weight of the adult heart recipient on the chance to obtain a transplant. We analyzed the data from all 658 patients listed for heart transplantation. During the follow-up period, 325 (49%) of listed patients underwent transplantation with 102 (15%) succumbing before heart transplantation. The mean weight of transplanted patients was 73.7 +/- 13.7 kg and 81.2 +/- 15.4 kg for those not transplanted (P < .00001). Patients were divided according to body weight in two groups: light = below 80 kg (n = 360) or heavy > or = 80 kg or above (n = 297). On the transplant list, 111 heavy patients (37%) versus 213 light patients (59%) underwent the procedure, a significant difference. The waiting time among light patients was 255 versus heavy patients of 395 days (P < .005). There was a similar number of deaths before transplantation among the light (n = 56 360 patients; 15.5%) versus the heavy group (49/297; 16%). Upon multivari...

The present review summarizes the current state of knowledge about the genetics of pain-related phenomena and illustrates the scope and power of genetic approaches to the study of pain. We focus on work performed in our laboratories in Jastrzebiec, Poland; Portland, OR; and Los Angeles, which we feel demonstrates the continuing usefulness of classical genetic approaches, especially when used in combination with newly available molecular genetic techniques.

Aim. One of the applications of the Neurofeedback methodology is peak performance in sport. The protocols of the neurofeedback are usually based on an assessment of the spectral parameters of spontaneous EEG in resting state conditions. The aim of the paper was to study whether the intensive neurofeedback training of a well-functioning Olympic athlete who has lost his performance confidence after injury in sport, could change the brain functioning reflected in changes in spontaneous EEG and event related potentials (ERPs). Case study. The case is presented of an Olympic athlete who has lost his performance confidence after injury in sport. He wanted to resume his activities by means of neurofeedback training. His QEEG/ERP parameters were assessed before and after 4 intensive sessions of neurotherapy. Dramatic and statistically significant changes that could not be explained by error measurement were observed in the patient. Conclusion. Neurofeedback training in the subject under stu...

The aim of this study was to assess lycopene intake in daily food rations of women (n = 725) from the Lower Silesia region. The data on the lycopene intake were collected using 24-hour recall and diet history questionnaire. The intake of lycopene was not too low. The average lycopene contents in the daily food rations of 725 women from Lower Silesia region was 7.5 mg. The highest lycopene intake was found in the food daily rations of women with BMI > 30. In examined group of women low knowledge on the importance of the role of lycopene in health was noticed. Educational interventions are required to inform women and to increase lycopene intake among them.

According to the recommendations of stroke organizations, every stroke patient should be treated in a specialized stroke unit (SU). We aimed to evaluate the development of the SU network in Poland during the past decade. In Poland, stroke is treated mainly by neurologists. A questionnaire evaluating structure and staff of neurological departments was sent to all neurological departments in 2003, 2005 and 2007. In 2010, we collected data based on information from the National Health Fund. We divided departments into categories: with a comprehensive SU, with a primary SU unit, and departments without an SU. Primary SUs were further divided into class A SUs (fulfilling criteria of the National Programme of Prevention and Treatment of Stroke Experts - eligible for thrombolysis), class B (conditionally fulfilling criteria), and class C (not fulfilling criteria). Final analyses included 87.4% of departments (194/222) in 2003, 85.5% of departments (188/220) in 2005, and 83.1% of department...

To report the vitamin D status in adults from seven European countries and to identify behavioural correlates. In total, 1075 eligible adult men and women from Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Greece, UK, Poland and Germany, were included in the study. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency, defined as 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 (25-OHD3) concentration of <30 and 30-49.9 nmol/L, respectively, were observed in 3.3 and 30.6% of the participants. The highest prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was found in the UK and the lowest in the Netherlands (8.2 vs. 1.1%, P < 0.05). In addition, the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency was higher in females compared with males (36.6 vs. 22.6%, P < 0.001), in winter compared with summer months (39.3 vs. 25.0%, P < 0.05) and in younger compared with older participants (36.0 vs. 24.4%, P < 0.05). Positive dose-response associations were also observed between 25-OHD3 concentrations and dietary vitamin D intake from foods and supplements, as wel...

The story of the children of Pahiatua (Pahiatua Children), where was a temporary camp for Polish orphans after soldiers, including members those form the Anders’ Army, is well known in New Zealand. Polish citizens, mainly from the Eastern Borderlands, not only found their second homeland in New Zealand, but also have significantly contributed to the erection of the newly established state of Aotearoa. Many of them, using their patriotic attitude, have funded to the basis for indeed friendly Polish-New Zealand diplomatic relations. This has been emphasized by politicians from both in Wellington, as well as the local public opinion. The former Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland in Auckland, John Roy-Wojciechowski, who was born in the Borderlands, made a huge contribution to the establishment of positive image of Poland in the Antipodes, mainly through the Polish Museum and “The Kresy-Siberia Virtual Museum”. In 2014, there was the 70th anniversary of the arrival of Polish orphans to New Zealand, which was a perfect opportunity to popularize the importance of the relations between Poland and New Zealand, still not enough analysed in the Polish literature.

This paper investigates three case studies: the ideas and fates of three Central European philosophers - those of Wojtyla from Poland, Patocka, from Chechoslovakie and Bibó, from Hungary. It is interested in the idea of embodied thought: how political actions could elabora a philosophical problem, or the other way round.