Noise Control is the most important international acoustics conference regularly organized in Poland. The XV International Conference Noise Control 2010 is taking place between June 6 and 9, 2010, in Ksi?? in Wa?brzych. It is organized by the Central Institute for Labour Protection - National Research Institute, the Committee on Acoustics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Polish Acoustical Society, with the cooperation of the Department of Mechanics and Vibroacoustics of the AGH University of Science and Technology, the Department of Acoustics of the Building Research Institute and the Chair of Acoustics of the Wroc?aw University of Technology.

While most traffic signs in Europe are purely pictorial, some also employ text. The article discusses two-code (image plus text) traffic signs on examples from a few countries: the UK, Germany, the US, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Poland. Special emphasis is placed on various possible sense relations between text and image in such signs. In some of these relations (such as intersemiotic translation or emphasis) the text does not modify the meaning of the image, whereas in others (such as restriction, complementation or elaboration) it does. Drivers who do not know the local language, however, are neither able to understand the text nor to determine its function towards image. Therefore, the text is always prone to affect them negatively.

The aim of this study was an assessment of feasibility of conversion of sewage holding (SH) tanks to rainwater harvesting (RWH) tanks in Poland. Such a conversion may partly solve the problem of water scarcity for irrigation of plants in individual small gardens and reduce tap water consumption. Seven methods of RWH tanks sizing were applied to an example of a small harvesting system of the roof area equal to the garden irrigation area of 100 m² for three different irrigation doses. A new criterion was introduced to optimize the tank capacity. Economic optimization was provided for new RWH tanks and for the tanks adapted from abandoned SH tanks. Results obtained for a system sited in west-central Poland in an average year have shown that design capacity of RWH tanks varied markedly between sizing methods. The conversion of SH tanks to RWH tanks is profitable, especially for irrigation due to scarcity of water in relatively dry west-central regions. Conversion of individual SH tanks in a good technical state to RWH tanks is relatively simple and cheap. The potential increase in storage volume due to the conversion of individual SH tanks to RWH tanks could reach all over Poland 215–350 dam³ per year, and individually can save up to 18–25% of total annual water use.

The study on water erosion in the catchment basin of the Jeleni Brook was carried out in the years 1995–1999. The catchment of the Jeleni Brook has complex relief, receives frequent pre-cipitations and thus is more threatened by water erosion. Soil cultivation and water from quickly melting snow can also be the factors affecting soil erosion. Waters from the melting snow produce rills of the following dimensions (mean values): width from 11.5 to 13.6 cm, depth – from 6.4 to 7.1 cm and length – from 39 to 112 m. The mean values of soil losses vary from 0.5 to 2.02 t·ha–1.

Erosion caused by intensive storm precipitation occurs less frequently but makes much higher soil losses. One of the registered incidents shows that 51.6 t·ha–1 (4.5 mm of soil layer) can be washed out from the area of 0.66 ha. Combined effect of outwashing and ploughing in lower parts of slopes created new forms of relief such as agricultural terraces (escarps). Agricultural terraces assume the shape of scarps up to 2 m high and of different length (e.g. 150 m) along with the land use border-lines between e.g. forest and field or field and grassland.

Agriculturally used soils within this catchment need protection based mainly on agrotechnical measures or on alteration of land use. Some areas should be afforested.

In order to evaluate the water quality of the Hauterivian groundwater in the zinc deposit of Chaabet el Hamra, Southern Setif region, Algeria, eighteen physico-chemical parameters such as pH, EC, TDS, Cl−, SO42−, HCO3−, CO32−, NO3−, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, and heavy metals Zn, Pb, Fe, Cr, Cd, Mn were analyzed and collected from six different wells in April 2012. The studied groundwater is dominated by HCO3−, Ca2+, and Mg2+ ions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Algerian standards, all groundwater samples are considered safe and fit for drinking as they fall within the permissible limits. In addition, the Schoeller diagram confirms the best quality water of the Hauterivian groundwater. Gibbs diagram show that the predominant samples fall in the rock-water interaction field, suggesting that water-rock inter-actions are the major mechanism controlling groundwater chemistry. Assessment of groundwater samples using various water quality indices such as sodium absorption ratio (SAR), soluble sodium percentage (SSP), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), magnesium hazard (MH) and Kelly ratio (KR) showed that the groundwater in the area has an excellent quality for irrigation purpose. According to Wilcox’s diagram, all groundwater samples fall in the C2S1 category, reflecting that they are suitable for irrigation.

The article tackles the question of the decline and revival of statehoods in Europe, in a broad historical context. This analysis is based on the history of political systems, philosophy and politics of memory across Europe, rather than on the politological concept of ‘failed states’. The phenomenon of consecutive diminishment and rebirth of states remains a constant feature of European politics and history, beginning with the collapse of the Roman Empire, through to the Partition of Poland in the eighteenth century (as an exemplary event), to the Soviet Union, and the civil war in former Yugoslavia. Kąkolewski points out the parallel phenomena of integrative and disintegrative processes taking place after many decades and having a potential of shaking state structures that initially seemed to be solidly integrated – as, for example, in Scotland or Catalonia. The European Union is the most recent example of this pattern: founded upon voluntary limitation of its Member States’ sovereignties, its has encountered disintegrative nationalist movements occurring in many parts of Europe.

The possibilities to improve values of the satellite orbit elements by employing the pseudo-ranges and differences of carrier phase frequencies measured at many reference GPS stations are analysed. An improvement of orbit ephemeris is achieved by solving an equation system of corrections of the pseudo-ranges and phase differences with the least-squares method. Also, equations of space coordinates of satellite orbit points expressed by ephemeris at fixed moments are used. The relation between the accuracy of the pseudo-ranges and phase differences and the accuracy of the satellite ephemeris is analysed. Formulae for estimation of the influence of the ephemeris on the measured pseudo-ranges and phase differences and for prediction of the accuracy of the pseudo-ranges and phase differences were obtained. An influence of the covariance between single orbit parameters on the accuracy of the pseudo-ranges and phase differences is detected.