TOWARDS A NEW SOLAS CONVENTION: A TRANSFORMA TION OF THE SHIP SAFETY REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

I congratulate the author of the article with his successful publication. The necessity to change the SOLAS is timely. Suggestions concerning simplifications in the application of the Convention, the use of more simple methods and delegation of greater freedom of choice for ship owners and designers have the right. In my opinion, the increasing use of probabilistic methods in the rules of the Convention is not always justified. For example, the Graph - analytical method that has been used previously to assess the unsinkable ship, gives the designer more opportunity than the current Probabilistic standard.

ASSESSING RISKS CAUSED BY NICKEL-CONTAINING NANOMATERIALS: HAZARD CHARACTERIZATION IN VIVO

Nanoparticles (NP) of nickel (Ni) and its compounds are promising materials for being used as catalysts in chemical, pharmaceutical and food industry; as construction materials in electronics and optoelectronics, in manufacturing current sources, medications, diagnostic preparations, and pesticides. Annual production volumes for these materials in their nano- form are equal to dozen tons and are expected to growth further. According to data obtained via multiple research nano- forms of Ni and its compounds are toxic to many types of cells; stimulate apoptosis; and can induce malignant transforma- tion in vitro. It indicates that this group of nanomaterials can possibly be hazardous for human health. Risk assessment in- cludes such a necessary stage as quantitative hazard characterization, that is, establishing toxic and maximum no-observed- adverse-effect levels (NOAEL) for a nanomaterial that penetrates into a body via inhalation, through undamaged skin, or the gastrointestinal tract. Experiments in vivo performed on laboratory animals with Ni-containing materials revealed overall toxic effects; toxicity to specific organs (including hepatoxoticity and cardiotoxicity); atherogenic, allergenic, and immune- toxic effects, as well as reproductive toxicity. There are multiple available data indicating that all Ni-containing nanomate- rials are genotoxic and mutagenic, though data on their carcinogenic potential are rather scarce. Factors that determine toxicity of Ni and its compounds in nanoform are their ability to penetrate through biological barriers and to release free Ni++ ions in biological media. The review focuses on analyzing and generalizing data on toxicity signs in vivo and effective toxic doses under various introductions of Ni and its compounds in nanoform into a body over a period starting predominantly from 2011.

ASSESSING RISKS CAUSED BY NICKEL-CONTAINING NANOMATERIALS: HAZARD CHARACTERIZATION IN VIVO

Nanoparticles (NP) of nickel (Ni) and its compounds are promising materials for being used as catalysts in chemical, pharmaceutical and food industry; as construction materials in electronics and optoelectronics, in manufacturing current sources, medications, diagnostic preparations, and pesticides. Annual production volumes for these materials in their nano- form are equal to dozen tons and are expected to growth further. According to data obtained via multiple research nano- forms of Ni and its compounds are toxic to many types of cells; stimulate apoptosis; and can induce malignant transforma- tion in vitro. It indicates that this group of nanomaterials can possibly be hazardous for human health. Risk assessment in- cludes such a necessary stage as quantitative hazard characterization, that is, establishing toxic and maximum no-observed- adverse-effect levels (NOAEL) for a nanomaterial that penetrates into a body via inhalation, through undamaged skin, or the gastrointestinal tract. Experiments in vivo performed on laboratory animals with Ni-containing materials revealed overall toxic effects; toxicity to specific organs (including hepatoxoticity and cardiotoxicity); atherogenic, allergenic, and immune- toxic effects, as well as reproductive toxicity. There are multiple available data indicating that all Ni-containing nanomate- rials are genotoxic and mutagenic, though data on their carcinogenic potential are rather scarce. Factors that determine toxicity of Ni and its compounds in nanoform are their ability to penetrate through biological barriers and to release free Ni++ ions in biological media. The review focuses on analyzing and generalizing data on toxicity signs in vivo and effective toxic doses under various introductions of Ni and its compounds in nanoform into a body over a period starting predominantly from 2011.

Il romanzo digitale:

L’articolo propone una riflessione sullo stato dell’arte del romanzo italiano nel mondo digi- tale svolta attraverso l’analisi dei testi in prosa della modernità presenti nel portale Biblio- teca Italiana e affronta i casi di studio di Manzoni, Pirandello e Tozzi, per analizzare tre progetti complementari e diversi di edizione cartacea e digitale, e di interazione tra ricerca accademica, istituzioni bibliotecarie ed editoria. I casi mostrano come il romanzo, per la sua polifonia, le sue dinamiche genetiche, la sua contaminazione con le arti visive e drammati- che, richieda una infrastruttura digitale che metta in relazione tutti questi aspetti tra loro, anche in chiave didattica, costituendo un banco di prova della necessaria trasformazione dell’edizione critica digitale in un sito di ricerca e conoscenza dei testi e dei loro autori. This article proposes a reflection on the state of the art of the Italian novel in the digital world carried out through the analysis of modern prose texts in the website BibliotecaItaliana.it, examining the case studies of Manzoni, Pirandello, and Tozzi, and in particular three com- plementary projects and several digital editions as well as interactions among academic rese- arch, institutions, librarians, and publishers. The case studies show how the novel — thanks especially to its polyphony, its genetic dynamics and contamination with the visual and dra- matic arts — requires an infrastructure that also links all these aspects from an educational point of view. The novel may be considered as a testing ground for the necessary transforma- tion of the digital critical edition into a “knowledge site” of texts and their authors.

Seismic Data Compression Using 2D Lifting-Wavelet Algorithms

Different seismic data compression algorithms have been developed in or-der to make the storage more efficient, and to reduce both the transmission time and cost. In general, those algorithms have three stages: transforma-tion, quantization and coding. The Wavelet transform is highly used tocompress seismic data, due to the capabilities of the Wavelets on representing geophysical events in seismic data. We selected the lifting scheme to implement the Wavelet transform because it reduces both computational and storage resources. This work aims to determine how the transforma-tion and the coding stages affect the data compression ratio.Several 2Dlifting-based algorithms were implemented to compress three different seis-mic data sets. Experimental results obtained for different filter type, filterlength, number of decomposition levels and coding scheme, are presented in this work.

The socio-economic and spatial transformation of Polish cities after 1989

The aim of this paper is to present the socio-economic and spatial transformation of Polish cities after 1989. The Polish changes reached the structures of the three basic subsystems of the state: political (power), social (society), and economic (the economy). The systemic transformation that has taken place in Poland after 1989 is most readily visible in towns, although it was introduced in the country as a whole. For the development and transforma-tion of towns, the most important were the introduction of local government structures and the market model of the economy. The restitution of local government has ensured towns an authentic manager authorised to perform his function by the local community. The in-troduction of the market model to the economy has resulted in its privatisation and the ap-pearance of enterprise and competition. Towns, especially the biggest cities, have become attractive locations for investment. Cities with a balanced economic structure and well-de-veloped infrastructure had much better chances for growth to start with. Unfortunately, the transformation period has also had some detrimental effects, the most important being un-employment and all kinds of social deviance. However, Polish cities are certainly different today and resemble Western cities to a greater extent than did the so-called socialist towns built along theoretically beautiful but practically ineffectual ideological lines.

Hearocracy: The Deterioration of Democracy in a Norwegian Trade Union

An analysis of a University branch of the Norwegian Union of State Employees, where the author was shop steward for three years, shows that formal attempts to practice democracy may be futile. Local unions boards become overloaded with bureaucratic tasks, and the members passive and alienated. Supported by a silent majority, the leaders can rule without giving the impression of being an oligarchy. This transforma tion of democracy into hearocracy is attributed to the combination of administrative and political functions in large unions. It concludes that union democracy would benefit from a clearer distinction between these two areas.

Religion, Values and Everyday Life

Nulle décision politique volontariste et nulle transforma tion intervenant dans les conditions de production ne sont suscep tibles d'entrainer un changement réel au plan des valeurs si elles ne réussisent pas à se traduire en geste de vie quotidienne directement saisissables - vie quotidienne aujourd'hui profondément mar quée par l'impact des media qui y introduisent l'Histoire, le mystère,... La religion peut jouer un certain rôle dans ce processus dans la mesure où, elle aussi, parvient à imprégner la vie quoti dienne mais ses pratiques spécifiques n'en seront pas nécessaire ment les bénéficiaires si elles-mêmes ne restent pas proches de la vie quotidienne.