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Petar Beron Sc.D worked at the Institute of Zoology and the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences as a biologist from 1963 to 2010. Specializing in acarology and Biospeleology, he began exploring caves and cave fauna since 1955. He went on expeditions in New Guinea, Indonesia, Mexico, Cuba, China, Vietnam, on the Balkan Peninsula, in Corsica and South America. In his journeys, he discovered many new species of caves and animals. Author and co-author of many books and articles on speleology, zoogeography, and acarology. The second monograph of the series, devoted to the cave fauna of the Balkan Peninsula, treats Greece, a country full of caves (more than 10 miles) and only 240 caves have been the subject of biospeleological research. The 630 species of cavernicolous animals, published until 2015, are listed with their localities and notes on their biology. The caves of some animals are briefly described, and some observations have been made of the zoogeography of this fauna. The Greek fauna is compared with the cave faunas of neighboring countries. The bibliography contains more than 300 titles of works regarding the Greek fauna inhabiting the caves. This fauna is very different from the fauna of neighboring countries. During the author's field surveys (since 1968) he has found several new species such as Speleodentorcula, Telsonius, Titanophyllum, Thassoblaniulus, Alistratia, Maroniela, Jason and others.
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The present article deals with the main currents that have been developing in the Polish historical geography since the end of the 19th century till now. A discussion on methodological and terminological matters has been left aside. Only the Introduction contains a short reference to those issues. Th e development of geographical-historical research is presented from two perspectives: institutional and thematic ones. A separate sub-chapter was devoted to cartography, both in the context of historical-cartographical studies and historical cartography. The review of the main institutions and research subjects considers the two major currents which developed in the Polish historical geography, especially since the middle of the 20th century, namely the geographical and the historical ones. Despite the common subject of research, they often remained side by side, which was due to different methods applied and the different source basis. The Conclusion, which closes the article, indicates the contemporary tendencies in historical geography related to new subjects such as studies on the cultural landscape or landscape ecology. In addition, a question was set about the influence of technological changes, especially the introduction of systems of spatial information and spatiotemporal databases, on the development of historical geography and on changes in this field of research.
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The paper analyzes crisis situations solved by The Fire Rescue Service of the South Moravian Region (FRS) in the city of Brno during 24 weeks between 7th April 2013 and 20th September 2013. The article deals briefly with all FRS actions and then focuses on fires. The open-access database of FRS is used for analysis. It is accessed from a database of the innovative web application StreetAlert, which allows users to learn about current fire brigade actions in the specified distance from the mobile phone. The data are processed in PostgreSQL and then spatial analysis is performed using the most detailed administrative division of the city - basic settlement units. As this division of urban space is used also in the most recent Czech census (2011), it is possible to use sociodemographic statistical data for comparison. The article identifies spatial regularities in the distribution of fires, describes the structure of the fires in terms of the type of event (fires of waste, fires of grass and forest, fires of buildings), discovers their possible dependence on the specific characteristics of urban space, finds potentially dangerous places (kernel density analysis), draws valid conclusions applicable to similar settlements, and shows the possible use of the data for local government. The main benefit of the research lies in revealing the spatial distribution of the examined phenomena.
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The fourth edition of the popular handbook discussing the geological units of Poland with regard to stratigraphy, sedimentology, petrography and tectonics. It presents the geological units in order from the oldest (the East European platform) to the youngest (the Carpathian Mountains, Paleogene and Neogene basins of central Poland). The valuable additions to this handbook are numerous illustrations (maps, cross-sections, and charts), two folded geological maps of Poland and a stratigraphic table. The handbook for students of universities where geology and related sciences are taught.
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In spring 2015, the Cucuteni sites of Scânteia (Iași County), Izvoare, Răucești (both Neamţ County), Ţigǎnești, Stănișești and Fulgeriș (all Bacău County) where surveyed by gradiometer. At Scânteia, more than 50 burned houses, ordered in parallel lines, as well as a threefold ditch system were encountered. The magnetograms from Fulgeriș, Izvoare and Răucești revealed also the typical, massive ditch systems, which were used on most Cucuteni sites for the settlement's delimitation. To a certain extend, at Fulgeriș the spatial order of a settlement, aligned along a central pathway is visible, while the other sites where not similarly informative. As a multi–layer settlement Izvoare exhibits a condensed picture of overlying structures, while Răucești, Ţigǎnești and Stănișești show different stages of destruction by erosion, caused by modern land–use. These range from disarticulated, but still present features up to the presumably complete annihilation of any archaeological substance. The results show the extraordinary potential of the Cucuteni sites for future, extensive landscape–archaeology, but they also indicate the probably short time during which these unique sources of archaeological information will remain intact for analysis under the circumstances of today’s more and more mechanized agriculture.
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This paper represents the attempt to map and analyze spatial distribution of illegal landfills in the City of Belgrade. To make this happen the main tasks were to form the geospatial database of illegal landfills in the study area and to analyze the patterns in their spatial distribution. The data on the landfill locations were obtained from the Agency of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia, while the ArcGIS software was used for their spatial analysis. The City of Belgrade, respectively the public utility companies use five landfills, which cover up the area of 89 ha. On the other hand, in the study area there are 223 illegal landfills. The spatial analysis showed two patterns: (1) increasing of the number of illegal landfills with distancing from the city urban center, and (2) increasing of their number with distancing from the municipal centers. This paper also showed that there is landfill clustering, or that their spatial distribution is not random.
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Niniejszy artykuł dotyczy dziejów Śląska, regionu historycznego położonego w Europie Środkowej. Omówiono w nim zagadnienia związane z Systemami Informacji Geo-Historycznej (HGIS), które wykorzystują Systemy Informacji Geograficznej (GIS) w perspektywie czasowej. Termin GIS wiązany jest zwykle z narzędziami programowymi i metodami przetwarzania danych przestrzennych oraz ich wykorzystaniem w procesach decyzyjnych. Taka interpretacja podkreśla pochodzenie skrótu: systemy informacji geograficznej. W środowisku akademickim używanie jest jednak także inne, szersze pojęcie – geoinformatyka. Czy narzędzie łączące pewne aspekty geografii, nauki o Ziemi i technologii informatycznych może służyć do analiz historycznych? Istnieje wiele odpowiedzi na to pytanie, a jedna z nich została zaprezentowana w niniejszym artykule. Główny pomysł rozwiązania postawionego problemu badawczego opiera się na wykorzystaniu charakterystycznych funkcji GIS: geokodowania i kartograficznej wizualizacji w kontekście historycznym. Zostały one przetestowane na przykładzie realizacji wybranych geoprzestrzennych usług sieciowych: mapowej i gazetera. Przystosowano je specjalnie do potrzeb analiz zmienności geopolitycznego krajobrazu Śląska. Głównym celem serwisu jest dostarczanie użytkownikowi map w danej skali, zakresie przestrzennym i czasowym oraz treści. Wdrożony prototyp serwisu mapowego wykorzystano do wizualizacji historycznych zjawisk dotyczących map Śląska. Gazeter jest słownikiem lub katalogiem terminów i nazw z odniesieniami przestrzennymi, który poprzez interfejs WWW dostarcza informacji na temat miejsc, często wzbogaconych o atrybuty opisowe. Narzędzie omówione w niniejszym artykule oferuje powiązanie historycznych nazw miejscowych Śląska z ich geometrią i innymi parametrami zapytania użytkownika.
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The paper demonstrates how the role of GIS is understood in science. It presents the discussion, known as the GIS-L debate, which took place in 1993. The most important results of this discussion were presented in Wright, Goodchild and Proctor (1997). Present understanding of the future of GIS has been given by Goodchild (2010). Against the background of the results of these discussions the authors present their own experience in using GIS and show how GIS science is understood in Poland.
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Jan Felkl company from Roztoky (Roztok) near Prague manufactured globes in seventeen language versions, since 1861 also in Polish language. The company was active until 1952, but it ceased to manufacture Polish-language globes as early as in 1914. In the aftermath of the First World War, and with the development of printing business, the demand for Czech globes shrank. It is difficult to estimate the overall output of Polish-language globes manufactured by Felkl’s company throughout the 53 years it operated. From catalogues and the surviving globes we know that terrestrial globes in six sizes, folding globes in two sizes, celestial globes (probably in four sizes), as well as telluria, lunaria and planetaria were manufactured for the Polish market. It is difficult to decide how many editions of individual types of globes were issued. Polish names were compiled by Franciszek Waligórski (one globe) and Mirosław Suchecki .Only 28 globes have survived to this day, including one celestial globe. Most of them are globes of an 8-inch diameter, approved by the Austrian ministries as teaching aids for schools. Nearly half of the surviving globes date from the years 1894–1914. Only ten items are in museums.
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In this work the author deals with the question of frontiers in Istria in special view of marks with which they were signed on the ground, from the prehistory to the end of 18th century. He emphasized the importance of Survey of Istrian Land Boundaries as the most important medieval document about that question which considerably determined border-problems in succeeding periods also. A special part of this paper is dedicated to the descriptions of single contentious points all along the Venetian-austrian borderline in the Modern Age, where the stone boundaries survived up to the present day, documented by the author in numerous photographies and other contributions made during his fieldwork. The Venetian-austrian controversies along the Istrian frontiers stopped only in the 1797, when the Republic of Venice disappeared.
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Urbanization is one of the processes that determine the development of a country or a region, but it has both advantages and side effects. Some of its aspects may lead to unsustainable growth and dispersion of built-up area. The main causes of this process are increases in costs of transportation, infrastructure and nature conservation. There is a threat of uncontrolled spread of development as a result of urbanization processes, particularly in suburban municipalities. It has been requested by many researches that authorities put more interest in avoiding dispersed suburbanization, but they still are looking for better solutions, tools and procedures to solve this problem. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the important role of spatial information from land information systems in identifying and predicting the causes of the development of dispersed built-up areas. Thanks to GIS instruments local authorities are more likely to preserve spatial order and avoid the side effects of "sprawling".
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In connection with the research conducted by the Institute of National Remembrance relating to the participation in the murder of Polish citizens of Jewish nationality on 10 July 1941 in Jedwabne, in 2002 the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography provided an expertise in the field of the anthropogenic object detection in the Jedwabne area. The article presents the methodology and results of the analysis of archival aerial photographs concerning the assessment of anthropogenic forms. The results confirm a significant role played by archival aerial photographs in retrospective analyses. The use of aerial photographs usually enables a more accurate description of the site compared to a topographic map. Aerial photographs make it possible to register a complete picture of all the elements present on the surface of the earth at a specific time. This creates a possibility to detect constructions and historical areas with details greater than by comparing maps and documents from various periods, which makes archival aerial photographs a valuable source of historical-geographical studies.
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Due to rapid urban development and expansion, much attention has been paid recently to the problem of environmental management and quality improvement in the city, which resulted in the promotion of open space development, so as to make this type of space an integral part of city centers. Open spaces perform various important functions in developed settlement units, i.e. the cities, contributing to an increase in the value of urban areas. The present paper is example of identification of an arrangement and structure of those fields, enables correct management those fields.
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This paper is an attempt to answer the questions: Is it possible to use entropy to determine the quantity of information for the purpose of analysis and spatial planning of rural areas? Is it possible to predict the directions of settlement around cities by analysing the entropy of built-up areas and determining the quantity of information? The paper presents a theoretical attempt to determine the quantity of information according to Shannon. The data used in the paper consists in the records of the built-up areas of Stawiguda commune (the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship).
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Increased energy consumption which commenced in the late twentieth century as well as its impact on the climate change highlighted important ethical issues revolving around responsibility for the inflicted damage, obligations towards both future generations and millions of species living on the planet, or the costs of mitigation and adaptation.Natural sciences provide more and more detailed information on the currently observed climate change. Climate models allow us to forecast changes and predict their consequences. However, it is yet impossible to answer the question what should be done about the knowledge about climate change, whether and in what way we should react to it. What seems of particular importance is the necessity to take a closer look at the alarming phenomenon through the prism of values and, especially, our responsibility for the present and future generations. Climate change is a global problem and it is very difficult to find a political solution to it due to the fact that its effects have a diverse character and are not immediately discernible. They constitute a matter of considerable concern which is mostly related to the fact that the consequences of climate change can significantly affect the entire international community, irrespective of the place of living or financial status. Proper assessment of climate change effects and undertaking political action to counteract them constitute nowadays one of the major world’s development challenges.
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The aim of this paper is to approximate the issues related to the influence of air humidity and test temperature on the thermal conductivity coefficient λ of wood-based materials. During the laboratory tests, the λ coefficient was determined depending on the test temperature and air humidity, material density and sorption were also tested
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Large corporates have come under increasing pressure to conduct their business in a more transparent and responsible manner. In order for business to fulfil its obligations under the ethic of accountability stakeholders must be given relevant, timely, and understandable information about their activities through corporate reports. The conventional company reports on annual financial performance, sustainability and governance disclosures often fail to make the connection between the organisation's strategy, its financial results and performance on environmental, social and governance issues. Recognising the inherent shortcomings of existing reporting models, there is a growing trend to move towards integrated reporting. South Africa has been one of the most innovative countries in terms of integrated corporate reporting. Since 2010 companies primarily listed on the country's major stock exchange have been required to produce an integrated report as opposed to the former sustainability report. The aim in this study is to review the development of integrated reporting by large corporates in South Africa and assess the impact of the required transition from sustainability reporting to integrated reporting on non-financial disclosure of eight South African corporates using content analysis of annual reports.
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