Volume 115 (2018): Issue 2 (February 2018)

Cracow, the former capital of Poland and currently the second-largest Polish city, dreams of becoming the most important metropolis – not only of the Lesser Poland region, but also of the entire southern and south-eastern part of Poland. This paper, based on long-term research and field studies, also refers, in part, to the “Model of the Spatial Structure of Cracow” research programme, which was conducted at the Institute of Urban Design of the CUT under the guidance of M. Gyurkovich with collaboration with A. Sotoca, between October 2016 and July 2017. This is the background against which the selected issues of spatial transformations that took place within the city limits and that influence the urban morphology of Cracow, will be presented against. The type of spatial structure that can currently be observed in Cracow, does not bring to mind an association with the urban form of a European Metropolis. Can the contemporary attempts to create a polycentric urban organism-that can compete with other, well-organised ones, internationally, ever be successful? Will the dream of the Cracow Metropolis ever come true?

Tempelhof Field, one of the most interesting parks in the ever-changing city of Berlin, is not only an attractive, green, open space, but also an example of complex history entangled with the present political conflicts. Formerly, a symbol of Nazi megalomania, a forgotten site of terror, a witness of the heroic Berlin Airlift, an unprecedented example of a modern civil protest against rapid development and recently serving as the biggest refugee camp in Germany – Tempelhof continuously stirs controversy. In an attempt to understand the intricate situation and provide new solutions, the article presents the forgotten history of Tempelhof as well as analyses its significance for the city of Berlin.

The recent wave of terrorist attacks, where vehicles are driven into crowds of people, forces us to question the effectiveness of the current antiterrorism security measures in our cities, especially in open public spaces. Vehicular terrorism, a new form of Islamic terrorism, which involves the use of mechanical vehicles as a weapon against civilians, brings new challenges for the police, security agencies and mass event organisers, as well as for designers, architects and planners. This article considers the possibilities, costs and results of implementing actions and security measures that may reduce the risk of vehicular terrorism.

Contemporary tendencies in shaping river valleys in cities constitute a clash and overlap of numerous aspects of contemporary urban planning. The range and diversity of interventions depict the whole array of new urban landscapes, the superior quality of which is constituted by the ecological aspect. Growing climatic changes, as well as limits of the natural environment within urban structures, pose special requirements for urban sections of river valleys. Urban strategies and projects proposed for these sections must face problems related to water resources management, and at the same time, they need to be activators of the new quality of the city in the context of its competitiveness. This paper focuses on two fundamental tendencies in designing river valleys in cities: anti-flood control, and increasing the share of the natural environment in the urban structure.

The case study selected to illustrate the author’s considerations is the area in the northern part of London – the site of the next stage of the King’s Cross Central revitalisation project. The site has been selected mostly because of its location in the close vicinity of the historic centre of the city and because of its valuable cultural and natural assets. The author discusses the spatial transformations of the area focusing primarily on various options of using the qualities and properties of water and its relations with elements of built environment and greenery in shaping urban spaces of a new quality, yet preserving their identity.

The article discusses the issue of the redevelopment of Lyon’s waterfront areas and long-term development strategy following the process of redevelopment. Owing to the large scope of the operations in question and a radically different approach to the problem of the revitalisation of the areas where the city and water meet, it is possible to conduct comparative analyses by pointing out specific factors, which determine the success of the enterprise. That is why it is reasonable to consider the latest example of redevelopment, which is that of Confluence, a post-industrial district of Lyon. The degree of activation of this peninsula can be related to various factors, which create the linearity of the waterfront.

Models of functional spatial structures, thanks to information aggregation, facilitated the decision-making process in terms of the development of cities. Considering the quality of the residential environment in the planning-related approach, in the scale of the entire city, the Author investigates which elements should be presented in the analysed model. To this end, the Author undertakes an attempt at defining planning-related factors of the quality of the residential environment and at assigning relevant indicators to them. These reflections focus on the example of Cracow.

In this paper, we present the methodology of preparation of 2-aryl-1-cyano-1-nitroethenes and the synthesis of their main precursor – nitroacetonitrile. We have also gathered the physical properties of all compounds of this group known in the literature.

This work is a continuation of our study on the chemistry of 2-aryl-1-cyano-1-nitroethenes. In this paper, we describe the reactivity of 2-aryl-1-cyano-1-nitroethenes as a key component in [2+3] and [2+4] cycloaddition reactions, and in other transformations.

The design of timber structures according to the current generation of Eurocodes results in new requirements being set for the authors of architectural and building designs with respect to the reliability management of such structures. The reliability problems should be formulated in the building permit design in an unequivocal manner, obliging the authors of the detailed design, as well as the contractors to deliver structures, which have all the operational parameters fully conforming to the expectations of the investor. Substantive and formal basics in this regard are formulated in the Eurocodes: PN-EN 1990, PN-EN 1991, PN-EN 1995 as well as in the related European codes. The reliability management problems of contemporary timber structures are related to the cubature buildings of different life spans, including buildings subjected to the climate loads characterised by several hundred year-long return periods..

This is the second part of an article concerning allsafe products (first is available in TT 1/2018, pp. 71–86) – it focuses on the planning role in the supply chain and the mechanisms that need to be taken into account during the process of the road transportation. Furthermore, the paper presents the results of an investigation that relates to the proper functioning of the supply chain in the distribution of 12,000 [kg] of strawberries. A weighted average method was used in reference to an analysis of load securing based on the products of three producers with the aim of indicating the safest and most modern way to secure the load in a semi-trailer. Rules of proper load placement and restraint inside the semi-trailer are also addressed, together with a loading plan associated with the analysis of the technical parameters of a semi-trailer and load securing systems.

In this article, ant colony optimisation algorithms for the triple matching problem are described. This is the first elaborated ant algorithm for this problem. The problem is modeled by means of a 3-dimensional array. The ant algorithm was compared with the Apx3Dmatchnig-F algorithm and tested for different values of ant algorithm parameters. The results of these tests were presented and discussed.

Contemporary analytical and computational techniques enable the researcher to define interaction between varying flow rates, varying volumes of filling water and the deformation and stresses occurring in the structural components of a hydraulic structure. This study aims to describe and create visualisations, under selected operating conditions, of displacements, deformations and stresses of a hydraulic structure resulting from loads generated by hydraulic conditions in standard components of the structure. A sample analysis was carried out for the Niedów earthen dam on the Witka River that failed in 2010 due to a disastrous inflow. The scope of this analysis covers the components of the spillway section: the spillway monolith, the dissipation basin slab and the flip bucket. The results of analytical work and visualisations are shown using the Flow3D software program.

The paper presents the results of research for load lifting process for a single pneumatic cushion. The load lifting process has been simulated in SolidWorks Simulation using the model of Mooney-Rivlin for hyper-elastic material. Research was conducted based on a simplified 3D model and drawn up a mathematical model of pneumatic cushions determining of non-linear static characteristics for the lifting height depending on the weight of the load and supply pressure. The results compare with the results of laboratory tests conducted for the platform equipped with four air cushions.

This paper concerns the use of a prototype measuring instrument for conducting measurements of the linear and angular displacements of a steered wheel in relation to the car body. The theoretical principles of the measurement are presented, as are the notation method and a solution to the system of equations of the geometric constraints of the instrument’s mechanism. In the research section, the manner in which the measurements were conducted is discussed and sample results are described. A preliminary analysis of the results is performed in the summary section.