Volume 116 (2019): Issue 12 (December 2019)

Contemporary architectural transparency, understood as the optical property of the construction material, is constantly being redefined and, over the last two decades, new design trends have developed. These trends are the result of: (i) dynamic technological progress; (ii) advancement in the field of materials science; (iii) changes in the attitude of clients and users. Transparency is no longer limited to specific functions (e.g. illumination of the interior) but has become a tool of formal expression itself. This paper defines most recent trends, which are divided into two main types: (i) optical-perceptual – relying on phenomenal effects, (ii) geometrical – that differentiate the large group of spatial transformations developed from what was initially flat planar façade.

The nineteenth century was a period of ground-breaking events in the history of humanity relating to the industrial revolution, scientific discoveries, knowledge development and social changes. It was also a time when new types of commercial buildings were being formed and transformations of those that had existed for centuries were taking place. The aim of this article is to present the problems of the Central Market Hall in Budapest by Samu Pecz and compare its architectural solutions with selected nineteenth-century constructions serving the same purpose elsewhere in Europe.

New trends in sustainable design contribute to prevention of the deterioration of the natural environment and they are focused on the optimisation of the indoor environment for the improvement of the human life quality. There are complementary goals of sustainable design – the comfort of architecture users, proper spatial planning, and, as a priority, taking into account the needs of both contemporary and future generations. These existential needs are connected with both local and global sozological problems. These are related to the continuing growth of irreversible changes to the environment, such as climate change, the disappearance of biodiversity, and the over-exploitation of nonrenewable sources of energy as result of shortsighted economy. These imply the necessity for the sozological education in all subjects of study and transdisciplinary training focused on the solving of problems associated with sustainable development.

This paper is an attempt at reconstructing Stanisław Witkiewicz’s creative method on the basis of his scattered writings. The Zakopane style has become a phenomenon across a broad spectrum of Polish national styles. The inspirations for classical national styles were typically arbitrarily selected sets of forms taken from a specific historical style associated with a given nation or state. It was often an eclectic set – enriched with elements derived from other styles. Stanisław Witkiewicz consistently avoided borrowing and copying, confining himself solely to drawing inspiration from the folk art of Podhale. In the methodology of his architecture, rational elements (exposing the structure, stressing hygiene) interweaved with ornamentation, predominantly featuring floral themes and elements of a specific mythology.

Zakopane is a regional tourist city that is unique on the national scale. It is a one of a kind mountain resort with an exceptional history and atmosphere. It is a fashionable place where visitors can both rest and test themselves. It currently requires not only sustainable development but also that the effects of negligence and its deficiencies in spheres required for it to comfortably function be addressed, in addition to the supplementation of its offering both in terms of use and culture. The small-scale architecture of the Podhale region must rise to contemporary challenges. Presenting underground projects from all over the world aids in raising awareness as to the development potential of the area, demonstrating one of the paths to solving the problems of overburdened cities. Examples show means of relieving the pressure of current needs, simultaneously relieving the above-ground service programme of cities and increasing the amounts of greenery at their disposal.

This article is aimed at providing a rationale for the need to introduce a new type of educational institution in Ukraine today, namely educational centers in the areas with challenging topography. This article identifies specific features of construction, given the difficult geographic topography and architectural environment of the educational institutions, and lists conditions impacting the volume and planning of educational facility construction. It defines how urban planning of school centers influence the areas with difficult topography and establishes their location type. The authors analyzed architectural and construction solutions for school centers in areas with challenging landscape. They have also identified form-shaping types of buildings and established the best slope ratio for each of the types.

One of the key reasons behind the urban sprawl process is the desire to increase the quality of life by living in “better” conditions. “Smart growth” is an alternative concept for the extensive development of the city, integrating different ways of land development in a compact manner. The main current of the work is to reflect on the quality of life in the urban areas. The aim of research is to determine ways to “heal” the spatial development of urban and suburban areas under the existing conditions of increasing urban chaos. The interpretation of living conditions for particular social groups is needed to find solutions that increase the quality of life. The background to the research is an analysis of literature on the subject, the consideration of good examples and own observations.

Parabens are synthetic preservatives that are used on a large scale in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food industries. Their task is primarily to prolong the shelf life of selected products – cosmetics, medicines or food – by maintaining their microbiological purity. Parabens protect products against deterioration and microorganisms, extending their durability by up to several months without interfering with their composition and operation. Parabens do not change the aroma, taste, density or other characteristics of cosmetic or food products. However parabens, which occur in most cosmetics with a creamy or liquid formula (face creams, body lotions, foundation, tonics, lipsticks, deodorants, perfumes), are becoming increasingly worse because of the prolonged list of side effects that they may cause. The presence of intact paraben esters in human body tissues has now been confirmed by independent measurements in human urine, and the ability of parabens to penetrate human skin intact without breakdown by esterases and to be absorbed systemically has been demonstrated through not only in vitro studies but also in vivo investigation using healthy human subjects.

Disability can cover various areas of people’s activities, but it is primarily associated with difficulties that relate to independent movement. The possibility of free movement is one of the basic human rights. People with disabilities who cannot get to work and take employment, despite a desire to do so, assimilate with the rest of society to a worse extent, do not have the means to support themselves and do not earn national income. From this point of view, programs and activities aimed at maximising mobility and access to various types of places for people with disabilities, including those in public space, are very important. These types of places include paid parking zones in cities. Their location in city centres provides access to most offices. Due to the fact that they are located in public space, municipalities and city authorities have an impact on their management and on establishing the principles of their functioning. A very important element of this management is determining the rules for providing parking spaces in paid parking zones, particularly with regard to the amount of parking fees for disabled people. The article provides an analysis of the management of the provision of disabled parking spaces in relation to paid parking zones in all voivodeship cities in Poland.

This article presents a method for the quick assessment of the safety of the road on an active landslide on the Just mountain at Tęgoborze using the landslide hazard ratio of landslide movements. The hazard indicator for landslide traffic has been defined as the quotient of the largest displacements obtained from measurements using a terrestrial laser scanner to the largest displacement obtained from a numerical model of the worst geotechnical conditions and an unstable landslide. The application of this indicator was presented on the example of national road No. 75 along the section of the road in km from 51 + 900 to 52 + 700 at the location of the Just mountain at Tęgoborze in the south of Poland. The road is located on an active landslide and has a lot of traffic. The measurements were conducted with the RIEGL. VZ400 terrestrial laser scanner from 2012 to 2016. As a result of the measurements performed with a terrestrial laser scanner, a cloud of 3D points was obtained. Differential models of subsequent measurements were constructed and compared to the first base measurements. The results of 3D differential models obtained from terrestrial laser scanner measurements were compared with results obtained from 3D numerical modelling. Numerical calculations were conducted assuming the worst geotechnical conditions. The model of the landslide was fully saturated. A numerical simulation computed using the finite element method (FEM) in the MIDAS GTS program was applied. A result of the safety factor F = 0.8 (i.e. an unstable landslide) was obtained. In order to estimate the hazard, the values of the landslide hazard indicator were determined for each date using the measurements conducted with the laser scanner.

In this paper a new approach to the consistent identification of the deformation pattern vital for the precise determination of the plastic limit load of a cylindrical shell from MNA when using modified Southwell (MS) and Tangent Stiffness (TS) plots is presented. It is proposed that the formalised assessment of the plastic collapse load can be done by the application of the relation between the load factor increment Δr_R and the arc length s – for an identification of achievement of the complete plastic collapse mechanism from MNA, and then the MS or TS plot for the displacement pattern that corresponds to the identified plastic mechanism.

The paper focuses attention on the problem of increased risks during the loading and unloading of railway tankers. To evaluate the risk which may occur during loading dangerous goods into tanker trains, the loading processes have been divided into seven stages. Based on HIRA risk analysis, for each stage of improvements, Quick Kaizen tasks were proposed. Special attention was paid to possible improvements in technical means, tools and processes. Thanks to the proposed improvements, it is possible to increase safety, not only during the loading of dangerous goods, but also in cases of loading and transportation of standard cargoes.

The sliding strip of the current collector (pantograph) of a rail vehicle is an element directly cooperating with the catenary and is exposed to abrasion, electric discharge and various types of damage. It is therefore the most frequently replaced element. However, often sliding strips are exchanged before exceeding the limit thickness value, which increases the costs related to technical maintenance. Because the wear process is dependent on many factors, heuristic methods are necessary to predict the thickness of the sliding strip. Knowing the predicted thickness value, it will be possible to adapt the maintenance cycle. In the article, the results of simulations carried out based on the developed structure of the artificial neural network are also presented.