Spatial Distribution of Gas Temperature in an Air Plasma Jet of Direct Current Glow Microdischarge

Technical Physics Letters - The spatial distribution of gas temperature in air plasma jet of dc glow microdischarge has been determined. The temperature field was measured by a thermocouple probe...     

Method for Control of the Vortex Flow Intensity by Changing the Bottom Position in a DC Arc Furnace with a Bottom Electrode

Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics - This paper describes methods and approaches for numerical simulation of liquid metal flows in a direct current (DC) arc furnace with a bottom...     

Formation and Properties of New Types of Metal–Dielectric Nanostructures for Creating Optical Metamaterials

Semiconductors - “Herein, we consider the technologies of obtaining composite structures that can exhibit the properties of metamaterials, namely layered metal–dielectric...     

On the usefulness of guidelines and instructions for environmental assessment – a qualitative study of the helpfulness perceived by Polish practitioners

Guidelines and instructions for Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment (together referred to as EA here) are developed to improve the quality of legal requirements’ implementation and to support EA procedure accomplishment. However, to date, it has not been checked whether they are useful for practitioners. Therefore, the aim of the study underlying this paper was to verify, based on the experience of Polish EA experts, whether guidelines and instructions are useful in their everyday work. A qualitative study comprising of a questionnaire survey and interviews tested whether (1) EA practitioners know and use the Polish and EU guidelines, (2) how EA practitioners evaluate the validity and usefulness of such instructions, and (3) in which areas there is a lack of instructions and guidelines. The results show a low level of knowledge of national and EU handbooks. Those guidelines focusing on legal procedures, road investments and designing animal passageways are considered to be the most useful. Moreover, practitioners indicate that EU guidelines should be translated into Polish. Most important for practitioners is the linking of guidelines with the EA procedure, so that they can become a platform for dialogue of all stakeholders.     

Effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment in Poland

The paper presents the results of an evaluation of the effectiveness of SEA obtained as a result of a survey with the participation of stakeholders. In Poland, several hundred SEAs are conducted annually at the local and regional levels and several at the national level. Although the survey demonstrated that SEA is evaluated as effective or quite effective, the respondents pointed to several irregularities in the non-procedural dimension of effectiveness. The main ones in terms of substantive effectiveness are that SEA is rarely used to help develop plans/programmes and procedures are highly politicised. Moreover, low effectiveness in terms of variant assessment and cumulative impacts and nearly non-existent monitoring of the actual effects of implementing plans/programmes influence substantive effectiveness significantly. The respondents pointed to the problem resulting from the fact that plan-makers are unwilling to take into account the SEA recommended changes. They also emphasised that there are certain attempts to put pressure on SEA consultants to make the conclusions less stringent. Respondents indicate that in Poland the costs associated with conducting SEA often outweigh the profits. The research shows that the society is properly informed about SEA, but public involvement is still low.     

Complex approach to the tribotechnical processing of elements for automobile and tractor engines

It has been shown that the addition of a geotribomodifier to engine oil and the processing of rubbing surfaces by metal-cladding agent substantially reduce the mechanical loss (up to 45%) and the heat generation in the contact zone (by 38%) and increases the load-carrying ability (by 61%). The optimal concentration of the friction geotribomodifier additive in oil has been established.     

Controlled diffraction liquid-crystal structures with a photoalignment polymer

The characteristics of electric-field-controlled diffraction elements based on a nematic liquid crystal and a new photoalignment polymer have been studied. The photocross-linking of this polymer allows periodic oriented structures and liquid crystal phase gratings with a 30% diffraction efficiency in the first order to be formed.     

Concomitant Crystallization of Copper(II) Sachharinato Complexes with 2-methylpyrazine as a Monomer and an One-dimensional Polymer: Syntheses,Crystal Structures,Spectroscopic and Thermal Properties

The reaction of [Cu(sac)₂(H₂O)₄] · 2H₂O with 2-methylpyrazine (mpyz) leads two complexes, concomitant crystallization of a mononuclear complex [Cu(sac)₂(mpyz)(H₂O)₂] (1) and a polymeric complex [Cu(sac)₂(μ-mpyz)]_n (2). Both complexes have been characterized by elemental analyses, magnetic measurements, FT-IR and ESR, TG-DTA and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Single-crystal X-ray analyses show that complex 1 consists of discrete molecules in which the copper(II) ions exhibits a square-pyramidal coordination geometry. The individual molecules of 1 are connected into a hydrogen-bonded chain structure, which is further assembled to form a three-dimensional network by π–π stacking interactions. Complex 2 is an 1D coordination polymer in which copper(II) centers are bridged by the mpyz ligand. The chains are further assembled to form two-dimensional frameworks by π–π and C–H···π stacking interactions.