University of Silesia in Katowice

We present a perspective of simple models of nonequilibrium directed transport described in terms of a Langevin equation formalism. We consider a Brownian particle under various circumstances and driven by thermal (equilibrium) and non-thermal (active) fluctuations. Three examples of startling behavior are unveiled: giant transport, multiple current reversal and negative mobility. Abstract Graphic abstract

Correction for ‘The effect of the gelation temperature on the structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of perovskite nanoparticles manufactured using the sol–gel method’ by Line Karoui et al., RSC Adv., 2024, 14, 11456–11469, https://doi.org/10.1039/D4RA01086H.

In studies of the relief evolution of smaller landforms, up to several dozen meters in width/diameter, digital elevation models (DEMs) freely accessible in different repositories may be insufficient in terms of resolution. Existing geophysical or photogrammetric equipment is not always available due to costs, conditions and regulations, especially for students or young researchers. An alternative may be the handy-held ground-based Structure from Motion technique. It allows us to obtain free high-resolution DEMs (~0.05 m) using open-source software. The method was tested on kettle holes of the glacial flood origin on Skeiðarársandur (S Iceland). The material was collected in 2022 at two outwash levels of different ages and vegetation cover. The dataset is available in the Zenodo repository; the first part is data processed in point clouds and DEMs, and the second includes original videos in MOV format. The data can be used as a reference to assess changes in the kettle hole relief in subsequent research seasons, as a methodological study for other projects, or for didactic purposes.

The first Arctic explorers underwent no formal selection procedure, and their personality traits were not diagnosed. Today, select in and select out procedures in systematic screening activities are common, although each country manages a polar station recruits according to its standards. The main goal of this article is to present the results of personality tests of work candidates at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund in Spitsbergen in 2019–2023. The applicants' personality was diagnosed with the NEO Five-Factor Inventory examining the Big Five personality traits. Results indicated that candidates for work in the polar station were significantly lower in neuroticism, slightly lower in openness to experience and higher in conscientiousness than the general Polish population. Moreover, there was a significant discrepancy in neuroticism between winterers and those not selected for wintering. This result was not observed in the female group. Potential reasons for study outcomes will be discussed in the article.

Simple Summary Individuals with atrophic gastritis and gastric intestinal metaplasia, considered gastric precancerous conditions (GPC), are at increased risk of developing gastric adenocarcinoma. The identification and surveillance of these patients are important for the diagnosis of early gastric neoplasia. Non-invasive markers of GPC with good diagnostic performance could allow the implementation of a stepwise screening approach and, with successful personalized endoscopic surveillance, possibly decrease gastric cancer morbidity and mortality. Pepsinogen I and II and their ratio are the most broadly investigated biomarkers with moderate diagnostic performance. Their combination with other markers like Helicobacter pylori antibodies and gastrin-17 (called GastroPanel®) allows for more precise identification of GPC but without significant improvement in overall performance. Other new serum biomarkers could possibly enhance the performance of pepsinogens. Some of them may be considered stand-alone biomarkers; however, until now, no high-quality data support the use of any of them. Abstract Gastric cancer (GC) is still one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide, with a high mortality rate, despite improvements in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. To diminish the GC burden, a modification of the current diagnostic paradigm, and especially endoscopic diagnosis of symptomatic individuals, is necessary. In this review article, we present a broad review and the current knowledge status on serum biomarkers, including pepsinogens, gastrin, Gastropanel®, autoantibodies, and novel biomarkers, allowing us to estimate the risk of gastric precancerous conditions (GPC)—atrophic gastritis and gastric intestinal metaplasia. The aim of the article is to emphasize the role of non-invasive testing in GC prevention. This comprehensive review describes the pathophysiological background of investigated biomarkers, their status and performance based on available data, as well as their clinical applicability. We point out future perspectives of non-invasive testing and possible new biomarkers opportunities.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many students refused to turn on their webcams during synchronous online classes. Students may intentionally remain invisible to teachers and colleagues for reasons related to their motivation and emotions. However, less is known about the relationships between students’ activity and frequency of turning on the webcam during synchronous online classes and their self-compassion. In our study (N = 450, Polish students aged 18 to 28), we examined the relationship between students’ self-compassion, self-esteem, body esteem, and discomfort when using webcams with their activity and frequency of turning on the webcam during synchronous online classes. We found that men scored higher than women on self-compassion, self-esteem, and body esteem, but lower on discomfort when using the webcam. In both genders, higher self-compassion was associated with higher self-esteem, higher body esteem, higher activity during synchronous online classes, and less discomfort when using the webcam. Moreover, in women, higher self-compassion was linked with more frequent turning on the webcam. We also observed that discomfort when using the webcam and self-esteem mediated relationships between self-compassion and activity and turning on the webcam during synchronous online classes. Our results indicate the importance of improving self-compassion in students during online education.

In this manuscript, we introduce a novel hybrid iteration process called the Picard–SP iteration process. We apply this new iteration process to approximate fixed points of generalized α\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\alpha $$\end{document}–nonexpansive mappings. Convergence analysis of our newly proposed iteration process is discussed in the setting of uniformly convex Banach spaces and results are correlated with some other existing iteration processes. The dominance of the newly proposed iteration process is exhibited with the help of a new numerical example. In the end, the comparison of polynomiographs generated by other well-known iteration processes with our proposed iteration process has been presented to make a strong impression of our proposed iteration process.

For over one hundred years, humans have been actively exploring polar regions. At present, each year, several thousand people work at polar stations in the Arctic and Antarctica. Polar stations have unique workplace characteristics; the conditions are classified as isolated, confined, and extreme. This leaves the important question of what motivates people to carry out professional tasks in such a context, particularly during wintering over in a polar station. The current study was designed to answer that question. Eighty-six winterers (22 women and 64 men) from ten different countries described their motivation to winter over. The qualitative approach, thematic analysis, was applied to data analysis. Two coding cycles were applied: initial coding and theming of the data. Fifty-six detailed categories were identified and then grouped thematically, resulting in 17 main categories. The three main motivation categories were challenge and adventure (N = 36), unique experience (N = 16), and performance of the job (N = 15). There were also differences in motivation between explorers from different countries, from Arctic and Antarctica polar stations, from civilian and military polar stations, and between female and male polar expeditioners. Obtained results can be applied to improve selection procedures and better support expeditioners during their stay in the polar station.

Facial hair is a sexually dimorphic trait with potential evolutionary and sociocultural functions. Bearded men are perceived as dominant, aggressive, and masculine, but also as having better parenting skills. Men may intentionally manage the amount and shape of their facial hair as a part of their self-promotion strategy; however, facial hair management entails costs in terms of time, effort, and money. We explored psychological factors associated with facial hair enhancement motivation among men. A total of 414 men (aged 18–40 years) reported the current amount of their facial hair along with their facial hair enhancement motivations, gender role stress, intrasexual competitiveness, and fundamental social motives. Willingness to care for facial hair was associated with the amount of facial hair men claimed to have and correlated with the fundamental social motives of affiliation and social status, intrasexual competition, and gender role stress. Therefore, facial hair enhancement may be regarded as a self-presentation strategy aimed at acquiring a beneficial position in social networks.

Urban forests are an important element of nature in highly urbanised areas. Due to their specificity (e.g. fragmentation, disturbances, alien propagule pressure), they are particularly susceptible to the penetration of alien species. The aim of this study was to determine the share of alien species in the tree stand structure of urban forests in the city of Katowice (Upper Silesian Industrial Region). A total of 50 woody species were recorded in the analysed stands, including 31 native species and 19 of alien origin. The share of alien species in the stands of individual forests was significant, as they constituted from 15% to 44% of the total number. Among the 20 trees most frequently included in the stand, as many as six are species of alien origin ( Robinia pseudoacacia L., Padus serotina (Ehrh.) Borkh., Acer negundo L., Quercus rubra L., Juglans regia L. and Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall). The most abundant species were Robinia pseudoacacia , Quercus rubra and Padus serotina . The local potential of alien woody species was determined using the index of their abundance in the understory; the highest value of the average abundance index was obtained by Padus serotina , Robinia pseudoacacia , Acer negundo and Quercus rubra . Most alien tree species were more likely to inhabit forest edges (ecotone zone).

A non-negative function $$d:X^2\rightarrow {\mathbb {R}}$$ d : X 2 → R is called a hemimetric if $$d(x,x)=0$$ d ( x , x ) = 0 and $$d(x,y)\le d(x,z)+d(z,y)$$ d ( x , y ) ≤ d ( x , z ) + d ( z , y ) for any $$x,y,z\in X$$ x , y , z ∈ X . Then $$d'(x,y)=d(y,x)$$ d ′ ( x , y ) = d ( y , x ) is a hemimetric as well. We call it the dual hemimetric. We show the existence of the universal hemimetric space $$\ell _\infty ^{^{_\oplus }}(T)$$ ℓ ∞ ⊕ ( T ) which allows to prove the hemimetrizability of a premetric space with the weak triangle inequality. Then we generalize the Baire horizontal theorem and obtain some version of the Baire curves theorem for a separately continuous function ranged in a regular hemimetrizable space. In particular, we show that if X is a topological space, Y is a first countable space at $$b\in Y$$ b ∈ Y , Z is a regular hemimetrizable space and $$f:X\times Y\rightarrow Z$$ f : X × Y → Z is a separately continuous function, then there is a residual set A in X such that f is continuous at every point of $$A\times \{b\}$$ A × { b } . We also generalize the Kenderov theorem on the Čech complete spaces and prove that that the open ball topology for the dual hemimetric $$d'$$ d ′ is categorically related to the open ball topology for a hemimetric d with respect to any $$\beta $$ β -unfavorable for the Christensen $$\sigma $$ σ -game space. More precisely, if X is a $$\beta $$ β -unfavorable space for the Christensen $$\sigma $$ σ -game and $$f:X\rightarrow Y$$ f : X → Y continuous with respect to a hemimetric d on Y , then there is a dense $$G_\delta $$ G δ -set A in X such that f is continuous on A with respect to the dual hemimetric $$d'$$ d ′ at every point of A . Therefore, f is continuous on A with respect to the pseudometric $${\widehat{d}}=\max \{d,d'\}$$ d ^ = max { d , d ′ } . Moreover, we show that this result cannot be extended to an $$\alpha $$ α -favorable space for the Saint-Raymond game.

In this paper, we consider a subclass of piecewise deterministic Markov processes with a Polish state space that involve a deterministic motion punctuated by random jumps, occurring in a Poisson-like fashion with some state-dependent rate, between which the trajectory is driven by one of the given semiflows. We prove that there is a one-to-one correspondence between stationary distributions of such processes and those of the Markov chains given by their post-jump locations. Using this result, we further establish a criterion guaranteeing the existence and uniqueness of the stationary distribution in a particular case, where the post-jump locations result from the action of a random iterated function system with an arbitrary set of transformations.

Strigolactones (SLs) are plant hormones that play a crucial role in regulating various aspects of plant architecture, such as shoot and root branching. However, the knowledge of SL-responsive genes and transcription factors (TFs) that control the shaping of plant architecture remains elusive. Here, transcriptomic analysis was conducted using the SL-insensitive barley mutant hvd14.d (carried mutation in SL receptor DWARF14, HvD14) and its wild-type (WT) to unravel the differences in gene expression separately in root and shoot tissues. This approach enabled us to select more than six thousand SL-dependent genes that were exclusive to each studied organ or not tissue-specific. The data obtained, along with in silico analyses, found several TFs that exhibited changed expression between the analyzed genotypes and that recognized binding sites in promoters of other identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs). In total, 28 TFs that recognize motifs over-represented in DEG promoters were identified. Moreover, nearly half of the identified TFs were connected in a single network of known and predicted interactions, highlighting the complexity and multidimensionality of SL-related signalling in barley. Finally, the SL control on the expression of one of the identified TFs in HvD14- and dose-dependent manners was proved. Obtained results bring us closer to understanding the signalling pathways regulating SL-dependent plant development.

In August 2022, the Oder River experienced an ecological disaster, resulting in the extinction of hundreds of aquatic organisms. Mass fish deaths also occurred during that time in the Gliwice Canal, located in southern Poland, which connects to the upper section of the Oder River. The aim of the article was to assess the impact of the waters from the Gliwice Canal on the water quality changes in the Oder River, as expressed by chloride, sulphate, nitrate, phosphate content, as well as its parameters such as conductivity, temperature, and pH. Statistical analyses were conducted based on our own research and a series of data collected by the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection. Below the confluence of the Oder River with the waters of the canal, an increase in sulphates levels and a decrease in sodium content were observed. The other parameters remained unchanged. It was also noted that the magnitude of each parameter was significantly higher in the waters of the Gliwice Canal compared to the Oder River. The research conclusion is that there is no influence of the canals' waters on the quality of the Oder River waters, both during the ecological disaster and afterwards. The presented research clearly indicates the need for separate analyses of flowing waters (with significantly higher salt and other pollutant dissolution capacity) and stagnant waters in water infrastructure (without water exchange).

Although coveted in applications, few materials expand when subject to compression or contract under decompression, i.e., exhibit negative compressibility. A key step to achieve such counterintuitive behaviour is the destabilisations of (meta)stable equilibria of the constituents. Here, we propose a simple strategy to obtain negative compressibility exploiting capillary forces both to precompress the elastic material and to release such precompression by a threshold phenomenon – the reversible formation of a bubble in a hydrophobic flexible cavity. We demonstrate that the solid part of such metastable elastocapillary systems displays negative compressibility across different scales: hydrophobic microporous materials, proteins, and millimetre-sized laminae. This concept is applicable to fields such as porous materials, biomolecules, sensors and may be easily extended to create unexpected material susceptibilities.

The construction of China’s social credit system (SCS) involves numerous bureaucratic agents who develop mechanisms aimed at contributing to the SCS’s overall objective of building mutual trust in society. This article traces the development of centrally designed censorship-related SCS mechanisms and examines them in a broader regulatory context. In doing so, we examine the effects that single SCS solutions produce for particular areas of governance, and the impact of bureaucratic interests on the proposed mechanisms and the entire SCS. The findings reveal that agents design mechanisms which support the underlying logic of their governance areas but which often diverge from the core SCS assumption of strengthening trustworthiness in society by raising the cost of violating legal provisions. This article also argues that, despite the trend towards centralization and controlling institutions, the ability of the Chinese party-state to develop a novel, complex, and coherent project may already be compromised at the central level due to the interplay of bureaucratic self-interests. Even though constructing the SCS has involved testing and introducing innovative mechanisms, these often fail to serve the project’s core assumption. As a result, long-existing mechanisms that now serve the SCS punitive regime may be more potent than the novel solutions in raising the cost of violating legal provisions.

The subject of the paper is the analysis of the relationship between spontaneous vegetation diversity and soil respiration in novel post-coal mine ecosystem. In the natural and semi-natural ecosystems, soil respiration process (Rs) is a crucial ecosystem function regulating terrestrial ecosystems’ carbon cycle. Soil respiration depends on the quality and quantity of the soil organic matter (SOM), the soil microbes’ activity, and root metabolism. The listed factors are directly related to the composition diversity of vegetation plant species (biochemistry). For many years, soil respiration parameters have been studied in natural and seminatural vegetation communities and ecosystems. However, there still need to be a greater understanding of the relationship between vegetation plant species diversity and soil respiration as a crucial ecosystem function. Plant species diversity has to be analysed through both the taxonomic diversity and the functional diversity. These approaches reflect the composition, structure, and function of plant species communities. We hypothesise that the diversity of the spontaneous vegetation species composition shapes the amount of soil respiration in a post-coal mine novel ecosystem. The soil respiration differs significantly along the vegetational types driven by habitat gradients and is significantly higher in highly functional richness and dispersion vegetation patches. Contrary to our expectation, soil respiration was the highest in the less diverse vegetation types – both taxonomical and functional evenness were non-significant factors. Only functional dispersion is weakly negative correlated with soil respiration level (SRL).

Patch-clamp technique provides a unique possibility to record the ion channels’ activity. This method enables tracking the changes in their functional states at controlled conditions on a real-time scale. Kinetic parameters evaluated for the patch-clamp signals form the fundamentals of electrophysiological characteristics of the channel functioning. Nevertheless, the noisy series of ionic currents flowing through the channel protein(s) seem to be bountiful of information, and the standard data processing techniques likely unravel only its part. Rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, especially machine learning (ML), gives new prospects for whole channelology. Here we consider the question of the AI applications in the patch-clamp signal analysis. It turns out that the AI methods may not only enable for automatizing of signal analysis, but also they can be used in finding inherent patterns of channel gating and allow the researchers to uncover the details of gating machinery, which had been never considered before. In this work, we outline the currently known AI methods that turned out to be utilizable and useful in the analysis of patch-clamp signals. This chapter can be considered an introductory guide to the application of AI methods in the analysis of the time series of channel currents (together with its advantages, disadvantages, and limitations), but we also propose new possible directions in this field.