Through mystery, literature reveals to us the Great Unknown. While we are absorbed by the matters at hand with the present enactment of our life, groping for clues to handle them, it is through literature that we discover the hidden strings underlying their networks. Hence our fascination with literature. But there is more. The creative act of the human being, its proper focus, holds the key to the Sezam of life: to the great metaphysical/ontopoietic questions which literature may disclose. First, (...) it leads us to the sublimal grounds of transformation in the human soul, source of the specifically human significance of life (Analecta Husserliana, Volume III, XIX, XXIII, XXVII) Second, it leads us to the unveiling of the hidden workings of life in the twilight of knowing in a dialectic between The Visible and the Invisible, (Volume LXXV, 2002, Analecta Husserliana) down to the ontopoietic truth. (Volume LXXVI, 2002, Analecta Husserliana) This prying into the unknown which provokes the human being as he or she attempts to conquer, step by step, a space of existence, finds its culmination in the phenomenon of mystery as the subject of the present collection. Its formulation brings us to the greatest question of all: the enigmatic solidarity -in-distinctiveness of human cognition and existence. Papers are written by: Tony E. Afejuku, Gary Backhaus, Paul G. Beidler, Matthew J. Duffy, Raffaela Giovagnoli, Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei, Matti Itkonen, Lawrence Kimmel, Catherine Malloy, Vladimir L. Marchenkov, Nancy Mardas, Howard Pearce, Bernadette Prochaska, Victor Gerald Rivas, M.J. Sahlani, Dennis Skocz, Jadwiga S. Smith, Mara Stafecka, Max Statkiewicz, Mariola Sulkowska, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Leon U. Weinman, Tim Weiss. (shrink)

Local food has become the rising star of the sustainable agriculture movement, in part because of the energy efficiencies thought to be gained when food travels shorter distances. In this essay I critique four key assumptions that underlie this connection between local foods and energy. I then describe two competing conclusions implied by the critique. On the one hand, local food systems may need a more extensive and integrated transportation infrastructure to achieve sustainability. On the other hand, the production, transportation, (...) and consumption of local foods are fundamentally as reliant on fossil fuels as are long distance foods. A more holistic approach to energy use in the food system is needed to determine which particular sociotechnical factors optimize energetic sustainability. (shrink)

The trajectory of the public discourse on agriculture in the twentieth century presents an interesting pattern:shortly after World War II, the manner in which farming and farmers were discussed underwent a profound shift. This rhetorical change is revealed by comparing the current debate on farmland preservation with a tradition of agricultural discourse that came before, known as “agrarianism.” While agrarian writers conceived of farming as a rewarding life, a public good, and a source of moral virtue, current writers on farmland (...) preservation speak of farming almost entirely in utilitarian terms describing its productive capacity and its economic returns. Proponents of farmland preservation use essentially the same underlying framework as critics of preservation:n “economic utilitarian” paradigm that purports to eschew normative values and evaluate land use decisions based on economic criteria only. I argue that, despite their good intentions, farmland preservationists are doomed to piecemeal victories at best, because their arguments, which rely on a utilitarian justification and disregard the agrarian ethic, are inadequate. Without expanding its focus beyond farmland to encompass farming and farmers, the movement risks losing both integrity and effectiveness. (shrink)

The aim of our study was to test the effectiveness of the “three good things for others” intervention. We used the randomized controlled trial method, with four measurements (pretest, posttest, follow-up after 2 weeks, follow-up after 4 weeks) and with random assignment of participants to experimental and placebo control groups. We investigated the effects of the intervention on prosocial behavior, and in addition on positive and negative affect, and positive orientation (a general tendency to approach reality in a positive way). (...) The results showed an increase in positive affect and a decrease in negative affect in the experimental group a day after the intervention. These effects, however, did not endure over the next 2 or 4 weeks. We also observed a statistically significant increase in prosocial behavior in the placebo control group, in which participants were engaged in a task of recalling childhood memories. The results are discussed and recommendations for future studies are proposed. (shrink)

As volunteer engagement in non-governmental organizations vary between individuals, it is vital to get to know its predictors. It can be of profit to volunteers and the ones who profit from their activities. The aim of present study was to examine a model explaining volunteer engagement examining volunteer self-efficacy as a mediator and personality traits, job resources as its predictors. Respondents were asked to fill in questionnaires accessible online. Those consisted of demographic questions as well as Ten-item Personality Inventory, and (...) three measures adjusted to volunteer environment: Work Design Questionnaire, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Work Engagement Scale. Results. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that conscientiousness, skill variety and self-efficacy are statistically significant predictors of volunteer engagement. It was shown that the effects of conscientiousness and skill variety on volunteer engagement are mediated by volunteer self-efficacy. (shrink)

W pracy przedstawiono wyniki badań dotyczących przydatności zawodowej inży­nierów ochrony wód. Stwierdzono, że więk­szość absolwentów pracuje zgodnie z ukończonym kierunkiem studiów. Absolwenci wysoko ocenili swoje przygotowanie z technologii, niżej z techniki i ekonomiki. Znacznie lepsze było ich przygotowanie do zawodu teoretyczne niż praktyczne.

Psychological well-being is one of the greatest concerns in children and adolescents with Borderline Intellectual Functioning. Those youths are frequently exposed to stress and social inequality, and they are particularly prone to developing mental health issues which persist through adolescence and into adult life. The purpose of this article is to introduce a framework for promoting psychological resilience in children and adolescents with BIF. Three interrelated and complementary factors require professional attention and efforts to improve resilience in children with borderline (...) intelligence: a) protecting a child’s self-worth, b) generating sources of social support, c) training of adaptive coping skills. The significance of early diagnosis and continuous monitoring of a child’s development is also discussed. Children with BIF should be provided with internal and external resources to enhance their resilience and ability to confront adversities, and to reduce the risk of mental health issues. (shrink)

Badania nad twórczością Brunona Schulza, ze względu na brak ciągłości w zapiskach autobiograficznych, zaginioną korespondencję czy wreszcie nawet zaginione dzieła, nie od dziś przysparzają problemów badacz(k)om. Kompletne archiwum Schulza nie istnieje. Twórca, którego historia nie dysponuje kopią zapasową w postaci multimedialnych archiwów, zmienia się zatem w medialny byt, którego los jest nierozerwalnie związany z gestem tworzenia narracji. W ciągu ostatnich lat szczególnie dominującą narracją stała się ta wiążąca twórczość i całe życie Schulza z dyskursami kultury pamięci poświęconej Zagładzie. Poszukując znaczenia (...) archiwum w kontekście interpretacji dzieł pisarza i dyskursów biograficznych, autorka artykułu szuka odpowiedzi na pytanie dotyczące znaczenia luk w biografii Schulza i ich udziału w tworzeniu mitu pisarza poprzez referencje do teorii mediów i archiwistyki. Porównując biograficzne trendy z tymi dominującymi polską kulturę pamięci, tekst oferuje uaktualnione spojrzenie na twórczość Schulza oraz na sposoby pisania o pisarzach dwudziestolecia międzywojennego. Wykorzystując warsztat metodologiczny charakterystyczny dla badań medioznawczych, tekst udowadnia zasadność pozycjonowania prozy Schulza na szerszym socjopolitycznym i kulturowym tle Galicji początku XX wieku. Poprzez ponowną analizę takich tekstów, jak Wiosna czy Druga jesień, artykuł ukazuje twórczość pisarza jako multimedialne i komunikacyjne archiwum, którego jedną z płaszczyzn (istotnych dla prawidłowej interpretacji) jest ewokowanie kontekstów kulturowych związanych z dokładnie określonym czasem i przestrzenią. (shrink)

This exploratory study aims at integrating the psychometric approach to studying creativity with an eye-tracking methodology and thinking-aloud protocols to potentially untangle the nuances of the creative process. Wearing eye-tracking glasses, one hundred adults solved a drawing creativity test – The Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) – and provided spontaneous comments during this process. Indices of visual activity collected during the eye-tracking phase explained a substantial amount of variance in psychometric scores obtained in the test. More importantly, however, clear (...) signs of methodological synergy were observed when all three sources (psychometrics, eye-tracking, and coded thinking-aloud statements) were integrated. The findings illustrate benefits of using a blended methodology for a more insightful analysis of creative processes, including creative learning and creative problem-solving. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The history of Latin America, the history of disease, medicine, and public health, and global history are deeply intertwined, but the intersection of these three fields has not yet attracted sustained attention from historians. Recent developments in the historiography of disease, medicine, and public health in Latin America suggest, however, that a distinctive, global approach to the topic is beginning to emerge. This essay identifies the distinguishing characteristic of this approach as an attentiveness to transfers of contagions, cures, and (...) medical knowledge from Latin America to the rest of the world and then summarizes a few episodes that demonstrate its promise. While national as well as colonial and neocolonial histories of Latin America have made important contributions to our understanding, works taking the global approach have the potential to contribute more directly to the decentering of the global history of disease, medicine, and public health. (shrink)

Present, as Manuel Castells (1996) notes, we live in the information age. Knowledge and the way it is acquired and processed are the driving forces of the economy, and information processing systems are the strength of economies. The aim of this article is to identify the key role of the information supply phenomenon in contemporary socio-economic processes. The initial part of the article will define such concepts as: information, infodemia, information market, in the further part examples of the use of (...) information in the process of forming social behaviour in the market context will be presented. For this purpose, three major economic crises from the turn of the 20th and 21st century will be used cross-sectionally. The first will be described as the dot-com crisis, i.e. the first global Internet players, which led to the collapse or loss of value of many global Internet platforms through the creation and bursting of a speculative bubble. The second crisis described below was related to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a leading US bank, and the US housing crisis. In the above case, both supply and concealment of information in the public sphere could be observed. The last crisis described is the crisis related to the SARS-COV2 pandemic, in which dis- and mis- information activities proved to be crucial. (shrink)

The paper reports two studies exploring the relationship between scholars’ self-reported publication pressure and their self-reported scientific misconduct in research. In Study 1 the participants ( N = 423) were scholars representing various disciplines from one big university in Poland. In Study 2 the participants ( N = 31) were exclusively members of the management, such as dean, director, etc. from the same university. In Study 1 the most common reported form of scientific misconduct was honorary authorship. The majority of (...) researchers (71%) reported that they had not violated ethical standards in the past; 3% admitted to scientific misconduct; 51% reported being were aware of colleagues’ scientific misconduct. A small positive correlation between perceived publication pressure and intention to engage in scientific misconduct in the future was found. In Study 2 more than half of the management (52%) reported being aware of researchers’ dishonest practices, the most frequent one of these being honorary authorship. As many as 71% of the participants report observing publication pressure in their subordinates. The primary conclusions are: (1) most scholars are convinced of their morality and predict that they will behave morally in the future; (2) scientific misconduct, particularly minor offenses such as honorary authorship, is frequently observed both by researchers (particularly in their colleagues) and by their managers; (3) researchers experiencing publication pressure report a willingness to engage in scientific misconduct in the future. (shrink)

Drawing on the model of Grandey, it was proposed that the attitude towards occupation could buffer the negative effects of emotional labour. A total of 173 teachers participated in the study. Attitudes towards occupation, surface acting, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction were estimated. The indirect measure of the attitude towards occupation was assessed using the Approaching-Avoidance Simulation Method. Confirmatory Factor Analysis proved the validity and reliability of the indirect measurement, which is based on uncontrolled reactions of the respondents towards stimuli (...) representing the profession. The results revealed a positive correlation between attitudes towards occupation and indicators of employees’ well-being. The indirect measure of attitude towards occupation turned out to be a significant moderator of the relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction. The results raise interesting questions about the connection between indirect measures of attitudes towards occupation and employee well-being. (shrink)

This study accounts for the observed patterns of variation and ambiguity in the expression and interpretation of aspect in bare habitual statements in Polish in the framework of Bouma’s ( 2008 ) recent version of stratified bi-directional Optimality Theory (OT).

Prisoners, those who probably engaged in criminal activities, might possess different perceptions and notions of moral foundations than non-prisoners. Thus, assessing such foundations among the population without testing the validity of the measure may produce biased outcomes. To address the potential methodological issue, we examined the validity of the measurement model for moral foundations among prisoners and community members, i.e., non-prisoners. We conducted the measurement invariance test and measurement alignment to test whether the model was consistently valid across the groups. (...) We also employed the differential item functioning test to examine whether item responses were not biased between the different populations. Results demonstrated significant measurement non-invariance and differential item functioning. However, measurement alignment could address the non-invariance issue. Between-group comparisons of moral foundations were consistent with findings from prior research after performing the alignment. (shrink)

Intrauterine insemination is one of many treatments provided to infertility patients. Many factors such as, but not limited to, quality of semen, the age of a woman, and reproductive hormone levels contribute to infertility. Therefore, the aim of our study is to establish a statistical probability concerning the prediction of which groups of patients have a very good or poor prognosis for pregnancy after IUI insemination. For that purpose, we compare the results of two analyses: Cluster Analysis and Kohonen Neural (...) Networks. The k-means algorithm from the clustering methods was the best to use for selecting patients with a good prognosis but the Kohonen Neural Networks was better for selecting groups of patients with the lowest chances for pregnancy. (shrink)

Principal Component Analysis is one of the data mining methods that can be used to analyze multidimensional datasets. The main objective of this method is a reduction of the number of studied variables with the mainte- nance of as much information as possible, uncovering the structure of the data, its visualization as well as classification of the objects within the space defined by the newly created components. PCA is very often used as a preliminary step in data preparation through the (...) creation of independent components for further analysis. We used the PCA method as a first step in analyzing data from IVF (in vitro fertilization). The next step and main purpose of the analysis was to create models that predict pregnancy. Therefore, 805 different types of IVF cy- cles were analyzed and pregnancy was correctly classified in 61-80% of cases for different analyzed groups in obtained models. (shrink)

This book concerns the border area between philosophy and social sciences. To explain the status of social sciences, not only cognitive involvement of theory is necessary, but also ontic. Hence epistemology and ontology need to be combined in meta-reflection on knowledge about society. Hence my proposition is social onto-epistemology.

In the article, I address the issues of the transformation of subjectivity, to which it is subject in the face of changes in the political and cultural status of knowledge in post-modernity. I am trying to identify and define the post-modern deficits of political culture as a consequence of these changes. Looking at the links between subjectivity and politics, I reach out to Charles Taylor, who characterizes the crisis of the ethos of authenticity, Anthony Giddens, who analyses the process of (...) disembedding of a subject, and Michel Foucault describing modern technologies of the self-creation in the context of a concept of politics understood as praxis by Hannah Arendt. (shrink)

A sense of success, perception of economic crisis and the form of occupational activity The studies presented attempt to outline a relationship between a feeling of success, the perception of economic crisis and the form of occupational activity. The article shows the results of empirical research conducted among 341 economically active people and concerns the psychological differences between them in Poland. The theoretical basis of the research is the new model of success by Dej, Stephan, Gorgievsky. This research has proven (...) the existence of significant statistical differences in a sense of success between entrepreneurs, employees in private companies, and employees in state-owned companies, but there are no differences in perception of economic crisis. People who scored a high general result in a feeling of success perceive economic crisis as harmless. The results show that being an entrepreneur is the most beneficial activity from a mental health standpoint. (shrink)

The results of the work show that the relatively small differences in declared, negative emotional states between people suffering and not suffering from cancer can be explained by the suppression of negative affect in the former. It was assumed that the suppression is related to a compensation of an automatic, affective self-assessment - i.e. implicit self-esteem, lower in cancer patients. The results confirmed that the connection of cancer and depression became significantly stronger while the self-esteem defensiveness and past stress are (...) statistically controlled. (shrink)

Type 2 diabetes has been considered a public health threat due to its growing prevalence, particularly in the older population. It is important to know the effects of psychosocial stress and its potential consequences for some basic cognitive processes that are important in daily life. Currently, there is very little information about how people with T2D face acute psychosocial stressors, and even less about how their response affects working memory, which is essential for their functionality and independence. Our aim was (...) to characterize the response to an acute laboratory psychosocial stressor and its effects on WM in older people with T2D. Fifty participants with T2D from 52 to 77 years old were randomly assigned to a stress or control condition. Mood and physiological responses to tasks were measured. In addition, participants completed a WM test before and after the stress or control task. Our results showed that the TSST elicited higher negative affect and greater C and sAA responses than the control task. No significant differences in WM were observed depending on the exposure to stress or the control task. Finally, participants who showed higher C and sAA responses to the stressor had lower WM performance. Our results indicate that medically treated older adults with T2D show clear, typical mood and physiological responses to an acute psychosocial stressor. Finally, the lack of acute psychosocial stress effects on WM suggests that it could be related to aging and not to this disease, at least when T2D is adequately treated. (shrink)

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is influencing our lives in an enormous and unprecedented way. Here, we explore COVID-19-lockdown's consequences for creative activity. To this end, we relied on two extensive diary studies. The first, held on March 2019, involved 78 students who reported their emotions and creativity over 2 weeks. The second, conducted on March 2020, involved 235 students who reported on their emotions, creativity, and the intensity of thinking and talking about COVID-19 over a month. We found that (...) compared with 2019, during the lockdown, students engaged slightly yet statistically significantly more in creative activities. An analysis of diaries collected during the pandemic also showed that the days when students spent more time discussing or searching for information about COVID-19 were characterized by a higher creative activity yet also mixed emotions. We discuss potential explanations of these unexpected results along with future study directions. (shrink)

In the modern era rationality, intersubjectivity and objectivity are primarily conceived as epistemological categories. They characterize knowledge or subjects ofknowledge, or even the function of knowledge—cognition. Epistemocentrism (in P. Bourdieu’s view a typical feature of modern thinking) supported by epistemological fundamentalism is nothing else but a limitation of this category’s meaning. Epistemocentrism was useful in the past but is now anachronic in view of the modern functions of knowledge in societies and the progress in social sciences. Today the sciences and (...) their contribution to society are not what they once were. This calls for a revision of epistemocentrism and the filling of the “epistemological gap” which emerged in result of the collapse of epistemological fundamentalism. I think that there is room today for a new “philosophical partition of reality” emancipated from the Cartesian despotism of ego cogito, and a recovery of the intuitional insights into social life typical of ancient thinkers like Aristotle. In the present paper I strive to show that epistemocentrism is anepistemological obstacle in the social sciences and the source of its crises. (shrink)

Infertility is a huge problem nowadays, not only from the medical but also from the social point of view. A key step to improve treatment outcomes is the possibility of effective prediction of treatment result. In a situation when a phenomenon with more than 2 states needs to be explained, e.g. pregnancy, miscarriage, non-pregnancy, the use of multinomial logistic regression is a good solution. The aim of this paper is to select those features that have a significant impact on achieving (...) clinical pregnancy as well as those that determine the occurrence of spontaneous miscarriage. Two multi-factor models were obtained, used in predicting infertility treatment outcomes. One of the models enabled to conclude that the number of follicles and the percentage of retrieved mature oocytes have a significant impact when prediction of treatment outcome is made on the basis of information about oocytes. The other model, built on the basis of information about embryos, showed the significance of the number of fertilized oocytes, the percentage of at least 7-cell embryos on day 3, the percentage of blasts on day 5, and the day of transfer. (shrink)

The assumption was verified that for patients suffering from cancer levels of anxiety and self-esteem differ compared to other patients before surgery. 120 patients of urology were assigned to subgroups according to diagnosis and the duration of hospitalization. Patients suffering from cancer declared higher anxiety than other patients. Longer hospitalization was connected to higher anxiety. A threat-congruent difference in explicit self-esteem was revealed only between two groups: 1. cancer and long hospitalization and 2. non-cancer and short hospitalization. For implicit self-esteem (...) the phenomenon of implicit compensation of self-esteem was predicted and confirmed: among cancer-sufferers the Name Letter Effect was greater than among other patients. Also, in the cancerpatients group, the result of Rudman et al. was replicated: increasing anxiety was connected with increasing implicit self-esteem. (shrink)

The article refers to a valid and current research area related to business sustainability. The development of the concept of sustainability has resulted in the linking of the overall concept to the actions that entrepreneurs take for sustainable development. Thus, it has moved the discussion to the level of sustainable business models, taking into account economic, environmental and social aspects together. The paper focuses on the social layer of the sustainable business model. The main objective of this article is to (...) identify the relationship between activities in the social dimension and sustainable outcomes. Research covers organizations operating in Poland and is based on a questionnaire (the statistical analysis is based on empirical studies conducted in 303 companies operating in Poland). The data collected allowed the construction of a regression model and the results revealed statistically significant relationships between social outcomes and values for society and employees. (shrink)