Volume 114 (2017): Issue 11 (November 2017)

The two famous, coastal cities – Miami Beach in the United States and Tel Aviv in Israel – have much in common: they have a similar history, topography and architecture. Their contemporary image was shaped relatively recently, in the second half of the 20^th century. Thanks to the changes to the originally grey colour scheme, the sordid and unkempt cities were transformed into world-class tourist attractions and trendy style icons. That is when their current reputations were established: Miami Beach as the pastel-shaded hub of American Art Deco and white Tel Aviv as the symbol of modernist, Bauhaus-like architecture.

Civilisational development brings new challenges in the discipline of architecture. In order to meet them in architectural and construction design, it is becoming inevitable to introduce the broadly understood BIM standard as widely as possible. New, previously unknown professional specialisations have emerged around the architectural profession.

▶ More and more often, the redevelopment and modernisation of existing buildings is performed in the BIM standard, which is why it is necessary to convert existing 2D documentation into a virtual 3D model of a building.

▶ Laser rangefinders coupled with appropriate computer software allow the performing of intelligent measurement, which is based on the simultaneous measuring and modelling of a virtual building’s elements.

▶ The technologically latest, most accurate, quickest and non-invasive method of gathering data on a building is performed using measurements that employ a laser scanner, which creates a point cloud within a 3D space.

▶ The creation of object libraries which represent specific commercial products for the most popular computer aided design programs has become one of the most dynamically developing specialisations surrounding the architectural profession.

▶ The possibility of presenting a design using an interactive multimedia presentation broadens the capabilities of using it in ways that are different from the traditional manner.

The new specialisations that are emerging in association with technological progress around the architectural profession broaden the traditionally understood market for architectural services. The subject of design in the BIM standard and the new specialisations should be introduced into the curriculum of architecture students as quickly and as broadly as possible.

The article aims to present the ways in which feature films of the 1960s, with all their beauty, became a canvas of times so important for the history of Polish architecture. Writing about the past exceeds a simple description of a historical object. It is also an attempt to present it on a film reel. In my reflections, I wish to concentrate on the relations operating between a feature film and such an architectural object, which, over the course of time, became iconic for the discipline. I want to focus on considerations regarding the ways of defining film and architecture as an element of spatial and visual memory, in the context of Polish heritage protection of architectural modernism.

The author of the article investigates Shin Takamatsu’s works in search of narration studied on the basis of the architect’s buildings along with his own descriptions and texts interpreting his work – with particular reference to Felix Guattari’s analysis. The use of metaphors and other devices of architectural poetics, such as architectural quotations, natural and mechanical inspirations, abstract and iconographic signs and cultural symbols in Takamatsu’s structures equates them with literary works, which has been reflected in the architect’s statements. The artist turns them into a coherent language with a particular narrative.

A rapid development of technology, increasing urbanization, life in urban agglomerations as well as the degradation of the natural environment are constantly alienating humans from the world of plants and animals, depriving them of the possibility of using the therapeutic properties of nature. A specific antidote on the so-called “Nature Deficit Disorder” (NDD) in a big metropolis may turn out to be a city farm with animals, which, in addition to its main educational role, plays equally important functions: therapeutic, recreational and socio-cultural. The article presents the idea of such farms and analyzes various functions they perform in the structure of contemporary European cities. Their program and basic principles of spatial organization have also been characterized.

Although the relationship between the cognitive style and creativity has been the subject of many studies, the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, it seems reasonable to further scrutinize the issue, particularly in the context of professionals, whose jobs involve creativity. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between the need for cognitive closure and the level of creative and reproductive attitudes with the comprehension and design of complex spatial structures. The study involved 111 first-year students of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. The results revealed that individuals with a low level of skills in design using geometric constructs had higher levels of reconstructive attitudes in the area of conformity and a lower level of the need for cognitive closure in the area of decisiveness than the ones with a high level of design skills, using geometric constructions. It was also found that as the level of the need for cognitive closure increased, the level of creative behaviour decreased; however, in participants with a high level of design skills using geometric constructions, it showed an upward trend. The results also indicated that the respondents held an average level of creative behaviour and a high level of conformity associated with a reproductive attitude, which is a worrying result as far as the future architects are concerned.

The paper presents a model of a flat plate photocatalytic reactor under solar radiation. The model was based on convection and diffusive mass flux balances in two zones: thin liquid layer and pores in the layer of a porous catalysts. The flux of light intensity was described by Kubelka–Munk theory.

This article presents results of the numerical analysis of performance of the Venturi tube, used and applied as type of static liquid-liquid mixer. The calculations were performed for a binary acetone-benzene system of completely miscible Newtonian liquids. Several variables used to describe hydrodynamics of the Venturi were proposed. The influence of orifice location and inlet velocity on the hydrodynamics and mixing effectiveness is presented. Calculations were performed using CFD methods and the Fluent solver for 2D geometry.

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the utilisation of zeolites in the removal of ammonium from systems of biological the transformation of organic substrates to biogas during methane fermentation. The results showed that the highest efficiency of removal of ammonium from digestate was achieved with a 10 g/dm³ dose of zeolite. This efficiency was from 37.87 ± 0.54% to 46.01 ± 0.8%. The experiment demonstrated a linear relationship between the dose of zeolite in the range from 1 g/dm³ to 10 g/dm³ and the efficiency of the sorption and the final concentration of N-NH₄. The highest sorption of N-NH₄ was observed in a variant with the zeolite dose of 1 g/dm³ and it was from 161.74 ± 2.01 mg N-NH₄/g to 132 ± 4.7 mg N-NH₄/g in the digestate and from 112 ± 8.54 mg N-NH₄/g to 122 ± 12.90 mg N-NH₄/g in the effluent from digestate.

Animal blood plasma contains ~91% water and requires concentration prior to it been dried. Our studies concerned the suitability of membrane technology. The efficiency of the investigated filtration process for membranes was stable over time, and displayed no tendency to clog. The protein level in obtained filtrates ranged from 0.15-0.26%. Increased content of protein in the concentrate is a function of the degree of plasma concentration. For the raw material containing 6.05% proteins, with 2.3 times the concentration, it was 13.84% and with 3 times the concentration, it was 18.24%. The filtration efficiency increases with the temperature of the process but decreases with increased levels of concentration. For both of the investigated membranes the permeability was similar; however, the 0.07 µm membrane had higher filtration efficiency by an average of 30%.

The aim of this article is to present issues related to the presence and pathways of bisphenol A emission and its migration to wastewater and the environment. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound mainly used in the production of plastics. It is classified as an endocrine disrupting compound (EDC) and should therefore not be emitted to the environment. This paper presents basic information on bisphenol A, its applications and potential sources of emission to the environment. A wide review of literature confirming the occurrence of bisphenol A in sewage, sediments, natural waters, drinking water and the atmosphere is performed. Effective wastewater treatment and neutralisation of bisphenol A in sewage sludge could partially reduce the levels of BPA pollution in the aquatic environment.

This article shows the results of analyses conducted of the seasonal variability of nitrogen concentrations and loads, depending on plants growing season, this doesn’t seem to work, consider changing to something like ‘dependent upon the stage of the plant growing season,’ if that is what you mean as well as river flow and the precipitation levels in the basins of Middle Warta, Reda and Rega. The Macromodel DNS/SWAT, implemented for three basins, has been calibrated in calculations profiles of three river basins this is vague and unclear, the repetition of ‘three (river) basins’ is particularly confusing. The analysis confirmed the significant impact of cover crops on the retention of water and nutrients. The phenomenon of periodic decreases and stabilisation of nitrogen concentrations and loads in the surface waters flowing through the profiles of the enclosing water body was observed and analysed. The flattening phenomenon analysis of the phenomenon to me, the repetition of ‘phenomenon’ is confusing, you could clarify this by defining the second use of ‘phenomenon’ by, for example, inserting ‘of these decreases and stabilisation’ here can be used to assess the state of the ecosystem in the basin area.

Let n, m be natural numbers with n ≥ 2. We say that an integer a, (a, n) = 1, is the m-th power residue modulo n if there exists an integer x such that x^m ≡ a(mod n). Let C(n) denote the multiplicative group consisting of the residues modulo n which are relatively prime to n. Let s(n, m, a) be the smallest solution of the congruence x^m ≡ a(mod n) in the set C(n). Let t(n, m, a) be the largest solution of the congruence x^m ≡ a(mod n) in the set C(n). We will give an upper bound for s(n, m, a) and a lower bound for t(n, m, a).

The aim of the study is to research the influence of pavement types and the position of wheelchair a user on driving comfort. The tests have been done for six different pavements and positions of the wheelchair user, as passive and as active. The assessment has been done on the basis of vibration measurements on the seat of a wheelchair for three perpendicular directions. The obtained characteristics for the selected frequency band have been compared to the criteria curves by ISO 2631. In the next stage of the study, the multiplicity of the exceedances of the vibration perception threshold and the vibration comfort have been calculated. The values of the multiplicity of exceedances have been used in the carried-out assessment process.

This paper presents a meta-analysis of experiments performed with language combinatorics (LC), a novel language model generation and feature extraction method based on combinatorial manipulations of sentence elements (e.g., words). Along recent years LC has been applied to a number of text classification tasks, such as affect analysis, cyberbullying detection or future reference extraction. We summarize two of the most extensive experiments and discuss general implications for future implementations of combinatorial language model.

The paper is concerned with determining the influence of laser treatment process on the properties of electro spark coatings. The properties were assessed after a laser treatment by analysing microstructure and X-ray diffraction and measuring surface geometric structure and microhardness. The studies were conducted using WC-Cu electrodes produced by powder metallurgy of nanostructural powders. The coatings were deposited by means of the EIL-8A model and they were laser-treated with the Nd:YAG, BLS 720 model.

The paper presents experimental and numerical results of the stamping process of an axially-symmetrical element. The subject of the study was a sample made of a 0.47 mm thick aluminium alloy Al-1100 sheet. Experimental studies were conducted on a universal testing machine, while numerical simulations were carried out on two different numerical software programs Abaqus^® and Deform-3D. The results obtained from the numerical analysis allowed to develop a numerical model of the stamping process.

This paper presents a comprehensive approach to the numerical modelling of the geotechnical issues related to the stability of the slopes of a former open-pit mine. The mine is located within short distance of the planned S-7 expressway route and the northern bypass of Krakow; therefore, there is a need of opinion as the project might have a significant impact on the surrounding area including structures planned nearby, as well as stability of slopes of former open-pit mine. The finite element method (FEM) was applied to the numerical analysis with the specific aim of assessing the risk of the movement of soil mass as far as the slopes of the Zesławice open-pit mine are concerned [4]. Field work and numerical analysis were conducted in reference to land reclamation plans of former Miocene clay mine located in the Carpathian Foredeep. The numerical modelling includes zoning plans. The numerical modelling was conducted with a terrestrial laser scanner application [12]. In addition, spatial distribution and the identification of the parameters of the subsoil layers was performed. A numerical soil model, based on Mohr–Coulomb theory, was also taken into consideration. shear reduction method (SRM) was applied to determine the slope stability; the areas at risk of mass movement were then identified on the basis of the slope stability ratio.

This paper shows a method of programming the NiTinol springs by heating them up in the furnace chamber filled with technical nitrogen. A fully specified methodology, which consists of preparing the spring forms, the numerical analysis of the heating time and the description of the heating process are presented in this article. The effectiveness of the following method is confirmed using research of shape retention after a series of duty cycles performed by an activated NiTinol spring.

The technical details of a balloon stratospheric mission that is aimed at measuring the Schumann resonances are described. The gondola is designed specifically for the measuring of faint effects of ELF (Extremely Low Frequency electromagnetic waves) phenomena. The prototype met the design requirements. The ELF measuring system worked properly for entire mission; however, the level of signal amplification that was chosen taking into account ground-level measurements was too high. Movement of the gondola in the Earth magnetic field induced the signal in the antenna that saturated the measuring system. This effect will be taken into account in the planning of future missions. A large telemetry dataset was gathered during the experiment and is currently under processing. The payload consists also of biological material as well as electronic equipment that was tested under extreme conditions.