Against the background of studies on redundancy in law that completely omit the visual element in law and of studies on traffic signs that are laconic about their redundancies, the present study ...proposes more focused investigation into the redundancies of traffic signs. After presentation of the broader context of existing studies on traffic signs and on redundancy in law, and following a discussion of the direct inspiration for embarking upon research into this topic, the article moves to present and discuss six proposed types of redundancies of signs. Utilizing Franciszek Studnicki’s distinction between sign-types and sign-realizations, and given that traffic signs exist in various complicated relationships with each other, with written formulations in legal texts, and with the environments in which they are placed, the study comments on six types of redundancy: (1) sign-type–basic task(s) of road traffic law; (2) of sign-type’s elements; (3) sign-type–sign-type; (4) sign-type–legal text; (5) sign-realization–sign-realization; and (6) sign-realization–environment. Analysis of each type is supported through examples, various subdivisions, and additional lines of inquiry. The study has value for both strictly theoretical and more practical enterprises related both to traffic signs themselves and to the wider realm of visualization of norms.
Despite its popularity in recent theorisations of law as an artifact, the idea that law is an immaterial being, independent from even the documents that contain legal acts, has not been subjected to ...a focused analysis. This paper fills this noticeable gap. After providing generalizing account of the Immateriality Thesis, based on its different expositions in the literature, the paper criticises it. First, it argues that it is based on the counterfactual assumption that semantic content can exist beyond any carrier for itself. The paper then elaborates on the thesis’ empirical implausibility, particularly its ignorance of how much the law is as it is due to writing. Third, the paper reveals how the thesis is difficult to combine with other jurisprudential issues, notably law’s effectiveness. Following such a critique, the paper considers the possible origins of and reasons for the thesis. Given its highly questionable character, the paper concludes with some general ideas on taking law’s materiality seriously.
•Mining is a sector of industry which produces the greatest amount of waste in Poland.•Post-mining facilities demonstrate an often untapped investment potential.•A proposal of waste classification ...may facilitate their use in accordance with CE.
The article deals with the problem of mining waste, which is the largest group of waste balance in Poland. Based on research, the current state of waste management in Polish coal mining has been identified. This is a challenge that is facing not only the domestic mining industry, but also international mining. As demonstrated using the example of international solutions, the essence of waste classification is gaining practical significance. A dynamically developing, more flexible and advanced technology enables the 3R principle (Reduction, Reuse, and Recycle) of Circular Economy theory to be applied in practice to the mining industry. Coal mining waste generated due to the absence of selective mining methods and coal beneficiation can be reused in co-firing processes for energy production after being treated. Further reuse of coal mining waste also has a positive effect on land reclamation and restoration, which in turn will minimize the size of mining dumps. Non-energy uses of coal may be found in the chemical industry, but some production methods may raise additional questions regarding excessive CO2 emissions. In a circular economy, it is important to identify all possible ways to reuse resources. As part of the research, the current state of coal mining waste was examined. Based on the described solutions for the use of mining waste, a sustainable, socio-environmental CE strategy for this group in the selected area of waste has been proposed together with the highest and best use analysis for dumps in complex legal, economic and technical conditions.
COVID-19 has affected the functioning of food systems all over the world. This paper seeks to identify and analyse the economic, legal and institutional, as well as social effects of the pandemic’s ...outbreak on food systems, and the implications for the EU Farm to Fork Strategy whose main purpose is to put food systems on a sustainable path. Qualitative economic and social impact analysis was used to identify the above types of effect on the food system on a macroscale, using Poland as an example. Information was sourced from existing data and qualitative studies. Studies show that the consequences of the pandemic for individual elements of the food system in Poland in 2020 were related to numerous disruptions in functioning, leading to uncertainty, financial losses, and interrupted transactions. The crisis under analysis also revealed modifications in these actors’ behaviours in food markets, noticeable in changes in consumption patterns and in the ways demand for food was met. Nevertheless, an analysis of the gathered information and data testifies to the food system’s relative resistance to the effects of the pandemic, and also to the adaptive skills of the system’s entities, especially food producers and consumers. The paper’s discussion contains recommendations for public policies shaping the food system, pointing to actions that might reduce the negative effects of other potential exogenic crises in the future and aid the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy’s principles.
In order to produce agri-food products in a sustainable way, a new and pro-environmental farmer attitude to soil is of key importance. In a situation of significant degradation of agricultural land ...as a result of the spread of intensive farming, there has been growing interest in regenerative agriculture. Based on a literature review as well as quantitative and qualitative primary data, the authors aim to analyse various ways in which regenerative agriculture is defined, understood and implemented, with selected countries, namely Poland, Czechia and Slovakia, serving as examples. The objective of the study is also to recognise how and to what extent the concepts and practices of regenerative agriculture meet the principles of sustainable food production. An examination of the literature shows that regenerative agriculture is a relatively new and diversely described concept drawing on many models of agriculture. The results of a bibliometric and webometric analysis suggest that the scientific, expert and public perceptions of regenerative agriculture are still limited. In the countries under consideration, regenerative agriculture is often identified with the concept of biological farming (biologisation of agriculture), and the conscious implementation of its practices at farms is infrequent, usually only taking place at large farms. The study was conducted from the point of view of the social sciences and agricultural economics, is comparative in character, and includes recommendations for agricultural policy as well as guidelines for possible future research.
A tunable graphene-based hyperbolic metamaterial is designed and numerically investigated in the mid-infrared frequencies. Theoretical analysis proves that by adjusting the chemical potential of ...graphene from 0.2 eV to 0.8 eV, the reflectance can be blue-shifted up to 2.3 µm. Furthermore, by modifying the number of graphene monolayers in the hyperbolic metamaterial stack, we are able to shift the plasmonic resonance up to 3.6 µm. Elliptic and type II hyperbolic dispersions are shown for three considered structures. Importantly, a blue/red-shift and switching of the reflectance are reported at different incident angles in TE/TM modes. The obtained results clearly show that graphene-based hyperbolic metamaterials with reversibly controlled tunability may be used in the next generation of nonlinear tunable and reversibly switchable devices operating in the mid-IR range.
Integration of conventional energy production with the Polish mining industry is a complex task in the light of decarbonisation guidelines and the development of Renewable Energy Sources. Smog as a ...seasonal phenomenon requires differentiation between the use of coal as fuel in conventional power plants and combined heat and power plants, and the burning of coal in the municipal and individual household sector. Domestic coal is a strategic fuel in energy and heat generation. The household sector, being the main cause of smog, is the sector that most needs to be changed. The main goal of the paper is to analyse the transition from fossil fuel combustion in households to electric heating, taking into account boiler efficiency and the current market prices of both coal and electric energy. Based on the performed calculations, we propose providing consumers with regular support in the form of electricity price subsidies (as a subsidy to the spread between the price of electricity and coal) when they decide to abandon coal and switch to electric (or district) heating, thus reducing smog. The simulation results may help in deciding on the subsidy level for both energy costs and total costs.
•Seasonal low air quality in Poland is mainly due to households low-stack emissions.•Subsidized energy prices as a proposal of AQAPs.•Estimated subsidy level for electricity price is 73% to replace coal as heating source.•Subsidy level of 73% for electricity price is cost neutral scenario for households.
The aim of the study was to provide the examples of eco-innovations in agriculture relating to the concept of sustainable development and the indication of their conditions. Quantitative and ...qualitative methods were applied to the research, namely: descriptive statistical and economic analysis of the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data and Statistics Poland data, as well as case studies of organic food producers, covering the years 2005–2019. Indicated information sources, encompassing long time span of analysis and various data collections, allowed presenting the complementary picture of eco-innovations at the sector and farm levels. The research examined the different types of ecological innovations in Polish agriculture, including: (1) organisational innovations with an institutional background (e.g., the organic farming support and greening mechanism of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)—implemented in the family farming sector); and (2) the product, marketing, process and organisational innovations in selected organic farms that were individual farmers’ initiatives. On the one hand, the research documented the effectiveness of new agricultural policy solutions in the agricultural sector that are examples of organisational eco-innovations. During 2005–2016, the certification system, as well as policy support, contributed to the development of organic farms in Poland in terms of the growth in the share of this type of holdings in total (from 0.5% to 4.6%) and in the overall utilised agricultural area (UAA) (from 0.3% to 3.7%). Moreover, during 2014–2015, as a result of the greening in agricultural holdings, the area sown with pulses and papilionaceous, i.e., crops improving soil structure and protecting soils, rose by 174% and 161%, respectively. On the other hand, the case studies conducted showed that the food producers’ knowledge and skills combined with a favourable local economic and social situation, as well as institutional support, played a key role in the process of the emergence of eco-innovations. Among those factors, the respondents’ individual characteristics associated with attitudes towards farming and the social, human and physical capital passed on by family members should be highlighted. This paper contributes to existing literature in two ways. First, this study combines both quantitative and qualitative (including in-depth interviews) approaches to eco-innovations at the micro and macro level of analysis. Second, by differentiating two approaches to ecological innovations, namely the conventional and the sustainable, the article indicates and considers the key factors favourable to the latter.
Artykuł jest próbą interpretacji Nowego Donkiszota Jerzego Żuławskiego, nieukończonego dramatu, który nigdy nie był przedmiotem badań. Na płaszczyźnie formalnej utwór stanowi najodważniejszy być może ...eksperyment Żuławskiego jako dramatopisarza, lokujący się w sąsiedztwie projektów teatralnych Stanisława Wyspiańskiego i Tadeusza Micińskiego. Ale Nowy Donkiszot to przede wszystkim arcyciekawy sąd epoki nad nowoczesnością, który przez reinterpretację obecnej w literaturze polskiej figury błędnego rycerza, a także w dialogu z Weselem Wyspiańskiego, diagnozuje impotencję współczesnej Żuławskiemu inteligencji w obliczu rewolucji 1905 i obnaża usypiający charakter rodzącego się przemysłu kulturalnego. Nowoczesny Don Kichot przechodzi w dramacie ewolucję od idealisty, utopijnego fantasty i rewolucyjnego bojownika, poprzez poszukiwacza szczęścia wiluzji i rolę „hamletycznego” hedonisty, aż po krytycznego pornografa nowoczesności. Kod pornograficzny, podniesiony do rangi zasady konstrukcyjnej dramatu, stanowi literacką strategię pozwalającą dramatopisarzowi krytycznie prześwietlić rzeczywistość, której metonimią uczynił rzymski lokal rozrywkowy.
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