For many observers, the electoral success of Poland’s populist right-wing party Law and Justice in 2015 came as an unpleasant surprise. Even more shocking was what happened next: Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s party started taking over all state institutions. It suppressed the media and launched a controversial ‘reform’ of the judiciary. How was this illiberal turn possible after decades of democratic development? Has Poland cut itself off from the pro-European path, or is the Law and Justice government a passing episode in the country’s history? Written by a leading Polish political commentator, this book traces the country’s transformation over the past thirty years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the government response to the refugee crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also reaches back further into the past, analysing the current situation in terms of a ‘post-traumatic’ reaction to centuries of statelessness. Familiarising readers with the latest developments in Europe’s largest illiberal democracy, The new politics of Poland shines a light on the broader situation in East and Central Europe and offers valuable lessons for other countries experiencing the rise of populist right-wing movements. -- .

This book identifies both the consistencies and disparities between Catholic Social Teaching and the United Nation's (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With Pope Francis' Laudato si' encyclical, Catholicism seems to be engaging more than ever with environmental and developmental concerns. However, there remains the question of how these theological statements will be put into practice. The ongoing involvement of the Catholic Church in social matters makes it a significant potential partner in issues around development. Therefore, with the use of the comparative method, this book brings together authors from multiple disciplines to assess how the political and legal aspects of each of the UN's 17 SDGs are addressed by Catholic Social Teaching. Chapters answer the question of how the Catholic Church evaluates the concept of sustainable development as defined by the Agenda 2030 Goals, as well as assessing how and if it can contribute to shaping the contemporary concept of global development. Examining the potential level of cooperation between the international community and the Catholic Church in the implementation of the Agenda 2030 Goals, this volume will be of keen interest to scholars of Catholic Studies, Religious Studies and the Sociology of Religion, as well as Environmental Studies and Development Studies.

Covering the latest cutting-edge techniques in biomedical signal processing while presenting a coherent treatment of various signal processing methods and applications, this second edition of Practical Biomedical Signal Analysis Using MATLAB (R) also offers practical guidance on which procedures are appropriate for a given task and different types of data. It begins by describing signal analysis techniques-including the newest and most advanced methods in the field-in an easy and accessible way, illustrating them with Live Script demos. MATLAB (R) routines are listed when available, and freely available software is discussed where appropriate. The book concludes by exploring the applications of the methods to a broad range of biomedical signals while highlighting common problems encountered in practice. These chapters have been updated throughout and include new sections on multiple channel analysis and connectivity measures, phase-amplitude analysis, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, fMRI (BOLD) signals, wearable devices, multimodal signal analysis, and brain-computer interfaces. By providing a unified overview of the field, this book explains how to integrate signal processing techniques in biomedical applications properly and explores how to avoid misinterpretations and pitfalls. It helps readers to choose the appropriate method as well as design their own methods. It will be an excellent guide for graduate students studying biomedical engineering and practicing researchers in the field of biomedical signal analysis. Features: Fully updated throughout with new achievements, technologies, and methods and is supported with over 40 original MATLAB Live Scripts illustrating the discussed techniques, suitable for self-learning or as a supplement to college courses Provides a practical comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches in the context of various applications Applies the methods to a variety of signals, including electric, magnetic, acoustic, and optical Katarzyna J. Blinowska is a Professor emeritus at the University of Warsaw, Poland, where she was director of Graduate Studies in Biomedical Physics and head of the Department of Biomedical Physics. Currently, she is employed at the Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She has been at the forefront in developing new advanced time-series methods for research and clinical applications. Jaroslaw Zygierewicz is a Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland. His research focuses on developing methods for analyzing EEG and MEG signals, brain-computer interfaces, and applications of machine learning in signal processing and classification.

The post-communist Central European and Baltic economies are now approaching the end of their transitions to well-functioning market systems. In some respects, the approaching EU accession and conclusion of the transition marks the end of a fascinating period in economic history. Beyond Transition focuses on the economic problems and issues facing Central Europe and the Baltics, the Balkans, and countries belonging to the Commonwealth for Independent States (CIS) in the post-transition context. This focus reflects the need to better understand two processes that are increasingly apparent in the post-communist economic space. First, many of the problems now facing policy makers in post-communist economies - choice of exchange rate regime, tax reform, labour market regulation, improving corporate governance - also face policy makers in developed and developing countries in other parts of the world. Second, the EU's eastern enlargement and the policy agendas facing the first wave accession candidates have major implications for the CIS and Balkan countries that have not been (and may never be) invited to join this process.

Gift and Communion offers a critical presentation of John Paul II's theology of the body, understood in the light of Christian theological tradition. The main thesis of the book is that John Paul II's theology of the body forms a new, inspiring approach to Christian ethics and the theology of marriage and family, as well as to theological anthropology. A central thrust of Gift and Communion is to treat theology of the body-as it deserves-in all its philosophical and theological seriousness and to present it as an important stage in the historical development of Catholic theology. This new approach combines a hermeneutical, post-modern reading of the holy scriptures with an attempt to interpret the biblical text in the light of important currents of Western philosophy as well as Catholic theological tradition. Gift and Communion critically evaluates the method, fundamental notions, and significance of John Paul II's thought, places his thought in the context of contemporary challenges to Christian belief and presents it as an important stage in the historical development of Catholic tradition.

"A Meteor of Intelligent Substance""Something was Missing in our Culture, and Here It Is""Liberties is THE place to be. Change starts in the mind." Liberties, a journal of Culture and Politics, is essential reading for those engaged in the cultural and political issues and causes of our time. Liberties features serious, independent, stylish, and controversial essays by significant writers and leaders throughout the world; new poetry; and, introduces the next generation of writers and voices to inspire and impact the intellectual and creative lifeblood of today's culture and politics. This issue of Liberties includes: new work from Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa; drawings by Leonard Cohen published for the first time; Mamtimin Ala's essay on China's genocide of the Uyghurs; Jaroslaw Anders' analysis of the crisis in Belarus; Cass R. Sunstein on liberalism inebriated; Richard Thompson Ford on what slavery does and does not explain; Sean Wilentz on the historical strategy of the Republican Party; Benjamin Moser writes about translation as a form of tourism in literary life; Jonathan Zimmerman on the scandal of college teaching; Mark Lilla on cults of innocence and their victims; Helen Vendler on Adrienne Rich; Holly Brewer on race and enlightenment; David Thomson asks, What shall we watch now?; Celeste Marcus (managing editor) on the legend of Alice Neel; Leon Wieseltier (editor) on Zionism's beautiful stubbornness of survival; and new poetry from Ange Mlinko and Shaul Tchernikhovsky, translated by Robert Alter.

Person and Value: Karol Wojtyla's Personalistic and Normative Theory of Man, Morality, and Love discusses the central themes of Karol Wojtyla's personalistic teaching in a concise yet comprehensive manner. Grzegorz Ignatik presents a philosophical understanding of the human person and human action that conforms with the phenomenological and metaphysical methodologies used by Wojtyla himself. This book pays special attention to Wojtyla's phenomenological insights concerning the significance of value for human life. Ignatik's reflections are based on his extensive research of original texts, published and yet unpublished, written by Karol Wojtyla in his original tongue, Polish. By returning to and rediscovering the original sources, Person and Value provides a fresh and profound engagement with the anthropological and ethical thought of the future Pope John Paul II. Written for all who wish to encounter one of the most illustrious minds of the twentieth century, this book will be an indispensable key to reading his works.

This book is a study of Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) and of the role played by metaxy in his vision of political philosophy. Metaxy, already defined by Plato as the "in-between" matrix of the human condition, is for Voegelin a powerful notion that symbolizes the intermediate state in which man experiences diverse and opposing tensions such as the ones between immanence and transcendence or mortality and immortality. The metaxy constitutes the realm of the divine-human mutual participation (methexis), and its locus resides in human consciousness (nous), there where the divine reality manifests itself as the origin of being. Being the field of intermediation between opposing forces, man has to keep the balance of consciousness in order to differentiate the noetic and pneumatic dimensions and so attune his life to the divine ground of being. This book claims that for Voegelin metaxy shapes the possibility of the philosophical, historical, political and religious orientation in life. Indeed, Voegelin's approach deserves recognition as an option adequate for addressing the intellectual challenges engendered by modern and postmodern philosophies.

This book identifies both the consistencies and disparities between Catholic Social Teaching and the United Nation's (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With Pope Francis' Laudato si' encyclical, Catholicism seems to be engaging more than ever with environmental and developmental concerns. However, there remains the question of how these theological statements will be put into practice. The ongoing involvement of the Catholic Church in social matters makes it a significant potential partner in issues around development. Therefore, with the use of the comparative method, this book brings together authors from multiple disciplines to assess how the political and legal aspects of each of the UN's 17 SDGs are addressed by Catholic Social Teaching. Chapters answer the question of how the Catholic Church evaluates the concept of sustainable development as defined by the Agenda 2030 Goals, as well as assessing how and if it can contribute to shaping the contemporary concept of global development. Examining the potential level of cooperation between the international community and the Catholic Church in the implementation of the Agenda 2030 Goals, this volume will be of keen interest to scholars of Catholic Studies, Religious Studies and the Sociology of Religion, as well as Environmental Studies and Development Studies.

Drama about the final battle of the Polish-Soviet War. When the Russian forces approached Warsaw in August 1920, the Polish fought back, with Jozef Pilsudski, here played by Daniel Olbrychski, commanding the counterattack. Poland's unexpected victory at the Battle of Warsaw marked the overall outcome of the war. The film follows the battle through the experiences of two individuals, dancer Ola (Natasza Urbanska) and soldier Jan (Borys Szyc).

Current developments of the Minimalist Program in generative linguistics put the procedure of labeling syntactic objects at the center of the syntax-semantics transition. This book provides a discussion of consequences of such proposals for a proper analysis of different varieties of the operation Merge and their interpretive reflexes, as well as for the general theory of the syntax-semantics relationship. It argues that the absence of substitutional operations in Narrow Syntax should restrict the range of admissible interpretive operations on adjunction structures in the conceptual-intentional component. It also debates that syntactic chains are subject to interpretive procedures properly analyzed with the help of counterpart-theoretic concepts.

The book addresses the genesis of Polish integral nationalism and the role of Roman Dmowski as a co-founder of this phenomenon in the development of Polish political thought at the fin-de-siecle. Based on extensive documentary research, it attempts to show a broader picture of modern Polish political and social thinking in context of the late 19th and early 20th East Central Europe. The author reflects on the significance of racial thinking and Social Darwinism of the new nationalist imagination, arguing that its intellectual foundations came from anti-positivist and anti-Enlightenment tradition. He challenges the widespread assumption that Polish nationalism in its early version cherished somehow mild attitudes toward minorities, especially the Jews, claiming instead that enmity toward "Otherness" constitutes its ideological core. A major feature of the book is the contextualization of Polish nationalism against the backdrop of the fin-de-siecle European political thought.

Power and Energy Engineering are important and pressing topics globally, covering issues such as shifting paradigms of energy generation and consumption, intelligent grids, green energy and environmental protection. The 11th Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference (APPEEC 2019) was held in Xiamen, China from April 19 to 21, 2019. APPEEC has been an annual conference since 2009 and has been successfully held in Wuhan (2009 & 2011), Chengdu (2010 & 2017), Shanghai (2012 & 2014), Beijing (2013 & 2015), Suzhou (2016) and Guilin (2018), China. The objective of APPEEC 2019 was to provide scientific and professional interactions for the advancement of the fields of power and energy engineering. APPEEC 2019 facilitated the exchange of insights and innovations between industry and academia. A group of excellent speakers have delivered keynote speeches on emerging technologies in the field of power and energy engineering. Attendees were given the opportunity to give oral and poster presentations and to interface with invited experts.

This book provides a critical, clear-eyed account of the personal and political style of the Polish leader Lech Walesa. It criticizes Walesa's political modus operandi, arguing that the leader manipulated or alienated many of his old supporters-including Tadeusz Mazowiecki.

The relationship between the arts has fascinated people for centuries. Discussing the ancient notion of ekphrasis, this study examines the interpenetration of literary and non-literary art. Traditionally, ekphrasis is defined as a rhetorical device for the poetic description of a painting or a sculpture that has been steadily gaining attention in literary studies since the mid-twentieth century. Taking a close look at the works of Don DeLillo, Paul Auster and Tom McCarthy, the author demonstrates how ekphrasis is useful for reading contemporary novels that feature non-representative, conceptual works of art.

Why is knowledge of soil stress and deformation state important for off-road locomotion? How do you measure soil stress and deformation under wheel loads? What are the actual values of stresses and deformation in soil or snow under a passing wheel? Providing answers to these questions and more, Dynamics of Wheel-Soil Systems: A Soil Stress and Deformation-Based Approach is a practical reference for anyone who works with experiment design and data analysis of soil stress and deformation measurements under vehicle load. Based on the author's 15 years of experience in field experimentation on wheel-soil dynamics, the book describes methods and devices for soil stress and deformation measurements and presents numerical data from full-scale field experiments. These methods offer practical solutions to methodological problems that may arise during the design and preparation of field experiments. Provides technical information on measuring, modeling, and optimizing off-road vehicle traction-including a novel method for describing off-road traction Provides rare experimental data on soil stress and deformation under a variety of wheeled and tracked vehicles Supplies solutions for designing, building, and using soil or snow pressure transducers and sensors Compiles original experimental data on soil degradation due to agricultural machinery traffic and soil compaction Explains how to create dynamic models of wheel-soil systems based on experimental data A valuable reference on an important area of terramechanics, this book shows how to analyze and model wheel-soil interactions to create more effective designs for a range of vehicle types.

Power and Energy Engineering are important and pressing topics globally, covering issues such as shifting paradigms of energy generation and consumption, intelligent grids, green energy and environmental protection. The 11th Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference (APPEEC 2019) was held in Xiamen, China from April 19 to 21, 2019. APPEEC has been an annual conference since 2009 and has been successfully held in Wuhan (2009 & 2011), Chengdu (2010 & 2017), Shanghai (2012 & 2014), Beijing (2013 & 2015), Suzhou (2016) and Guilin (2018), China. The objective of APPEEC 2019 was to provide scientific and professional interactions for the advancement of the fields of power and energy engineering. APPEEC 2019 facilitated the exchange of insights and innovations between industry and academia. A group of excellent speakers have delivered keynote speeches on emerging technologies in the field of power and energy engineering. Attendees were given the opportunity to give oral and poster presentations and to interface with invited experts.

Drawing on his unique insider's perspective as press spokesman for Lech WaA'E (c)sa from October 1989 to July 1990, Jaroslaw Kurski has written the first critical, clear-eyed account of the Polish leader's personal and political style. During his time in WaA'E (c)sa's office, Kurski became acquainted with the many forces and ambitions-which were unknown

Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz's work is familiar to every Polish reader, yet remains unknown to the outside world. The stories in this selection were all written in the 1930s, and provide an extraordinary evocation of Poland's first brief era of independence between the wars. They are also timeless sonatas of love and loss. In 'A New Love', Iwaszkiewicz uses masterful brevity to take a wry, comical look at the illusion of romance from the viewpoint of a jaded, cynical lover. One of his best-known works, 'The Wilko Girls', tells of a middle-aged man's quest to recover his lost youth in the aftermath of the First World War, which has left him psychologically scarred. He travels to the scene of his pre-war summer holidays in the eastern borderlands, where he renews his friendship with the fascinating sisters whom he knew when they were girls. But no one is the same and nothing can be as it was. 'The Birch Grove' is the moving story of a woodsman who, spiritually destroyed by the death of his wife, has buried himself away in an isolated forest. When his lively younger brother unexpectedly comes to stay, his self-centred peace is disrupted. But his brother has come home to die. The lives of two young men, one a deeply religious poet, the other a sceptical, worldly estate owner, are touchingly contrasted in 'The Mill on the River Utrata'. Confirming these stories' central place in Polish cultural history, 'The Wilko Girls' and 'The Birch Grove' were made into classic films by Andrzej Wajda, Poland's leading director.

The post-communist Central European and Baltic economies are now approaching the end of their transitions to well-functioning market systems. In some respects, the approaching EU accession and conclusion of the transition marks the end of a fascinating period in economic history. Beyond Transition focuses on the economic problems and issues facing Central Europe and the Baltics, the Balkans, and countries belonging to the Commonwealth for Independent States (CIS) in the post-transition context. This focus reflects the need to better understand two processes that are increasingly apparent in the post-communist economic space. First, many of the problems now facing policy makers in post-communist economies - choice of exchange rate regime, tax reform, labour market regulation, improving corporate governance - also face policy makers in developed and developing countries in other parts of the world. Second, the EU's eastern enlargement and the policy agendas facing the first wave accession candidates have major implications for the CIS and Balkan countries that have not been (and may never be) invited to join this process.

Advances in Mechanics: Theoretical, Computational and Interdisciplinary Issues covers the domain of theoretical, experimental and computational mechanics as well as interdisciplinary issues, such as industrial applications. Special attention is paid to the theoretical background and practical applications of computational mechanics. This volume contains 132 contributions presented at the PCM-CMM-2015 Congress held on 8-11 September, 2015 in Gdansk, Poland. The Congress is a joint scientific event of the 3rd Polish Congress of Mechanics (PCM) and the 21st International Conference on Computer Methods in Mechanics (CMM). Advances in Mechanics: Theoretical, Computational and Interdisciplinary Issues will be of interest to researchers and designers dealing with mechanics and its applications.

Drawing on classical and emerging research perspectives, this comprehensive book provides an up-to-date review of local government in Europe. Featuring an impressive range of contributors from both eastern and western Europe, the book addresses three main topics: territorial reforms, democratic empowerment of citizens and the role of local leadership, as well as new trends in local finances. Acknowledging their inherent diversity, the book examines the ways that local governments have responded to shared challenges, such as climate change, increasing populism and democratic deficit in order to identify both the variety and communalities between the country-specific features. In doing so, it provides a rich picture of the latest trends in local government, as well as pointing the way for future developments.

Airplane Performance on Grass Airfields presents an experiment-based approach to analysis and flight testing of airfield performance on grass runways. It discusses improvements for operations efficiency and safety of these airfields. The book analyzes the interaction between the landing gear wheels and the surface of a grass runways during both takeoff and landing. Considering the ground performance of an aircraft on a grass runway, the book covers test methods and devices for measuring performance and introduces an information system for the surface condition of grass airfields: GARFIELD. The system is based on a tire-grass interaction model and uses digital soil maps, as well as current meteorological data obtained from a weather server. The book is intended for researchers and practicing engineers in the fields of aviation and aircraft safety and performance.

This book presents novel approaches to formulate, analyze, and solve problems in the area of distributed service networks, notably based on AI-related methods (parallel/cloud computing, declarative modeling, fuzzy methods). Distributed service networks are an important area of research and applications. The methods presented are meant to integrate both emerging and existing concepts and approaches for different types of production flows through synchronizations. An integration of logistics services (e.g., supply chains and projects portfolios), public and multimodal transport, traffic flow congestion management in ad hoc networks, design of high-performance cloud data centers, and milk-run distribution networks are shown as illustrations for the methods proposed. The book is of interest to researchers and practitioners in computer science, operations management, production control, and related fields.

This book presents a new perspective on and a new approach to a wide spectrum of situations, related to data analysis, actually, a kind of a new paradigm. Namely, for a given data set and its partition, whose origins may be of any kind, the authors try to reconstruct this partition on the basis of the data set given, using very broadly conceived clustering procedure. The main advantages of this new paradigm concern the substantive aspects of the particular cases considered, mainly in view of the variety of interpretations, which can be assumed in the framework of the paradigm. Due to the novel problem formulation and the flexibility in the interpretations of this problem and its components, the domains, which are encompassed (or at least affected) by the potential use of the paradigm, include cluster analysis, classification, outlier detection, feature selection, and even factor analysis as well as geometry of the data set. The book is useful for all those who look for new, nonconventional approaches to their data analysis problems.