In the first part of this essay the author indicates some of the problems of contemporary society related to how fragmentation of the social order affects and transforms self-identity. Today identity is chosen rather than given as it was in the past. Such freedom to choose who, how and where to be not only opens the possibility of unrestrained creativity but requires that the subject face new ethical and political issues.In the second part the author introduces these themes and questions (...) as they have been discussed by others. The problem of identity is put in the framework of space and time and approached as well with questions regarding the theory of names. Social problems of contemporary society are also discussed by using the approach proposed by Kantian philosophy. In the final essay of the present issue the question of how technology re-shapes and effects our everyday life is raised. (shrink)

This article aims to examine the Lithuanian housing policy system, with a special emphasis on social housing issues. This study is based on 20 semi-structured interviews with the decision makers and recipients of social housing. The analysis reveals the issues related to access to social housing, management and administration issues, problems related to stigmatisation of social housing recipients, and their overall satisfaction with the provided support.The study shows that accessing social housing and living in social housing is not an easy (...) task. Social housing recipients have to wait in queues for a long time, experience stigmatisation and constant fear that they may lose their social housing due to a strict income monitoring. On the other hand, the municipality tries to provide friendly strategies to solve individual cases and looks for the best solutions possible to meet the needs of social housing recipients. The findings show that massive privatisation in Lithuania created a dualistic housing market favouring home ownership and marginalising social housing as a safety net for the most vulnerable people. At the same time, a massive home ownership society formed a safety net for many, with family ties playing a crucial role. Housing safety is offered as a part of social assistance programs for the most vulnerable parts of the population. (shrink)

Copernicus "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" as an exapmle of a discourse on a method In addition to the calculations conmprehensible to the astronomers, the work of Copernicus presented to Pope Paul III for approval, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, includes also a descriptive introduction. The author uses it to report on the current astronomical knowledge, explains the importance of the accomplishments of his great predecessors, as well as the reasons for which a correction of their theories is necessary. In this part (...) of the work the importance of discovery and adjustment of a proper method to a specific area of nature research is stressed as well-long before the Descartian "Discourse on the Method"". Copernicus stresses that the misteakes of his predecessors occurred because "something necessary" would be often discarded, and replaced by something "alien, not belonging to the matter". The selective treatment of the phenomena and justification of the relations between them using non-meritorical indications and arguments might, but does not have lead to the correct conclusions. The introduction and the first tome of "De Revolutionibus" provide an example of a discourse on a method of creating knowledge. Copernicus displayed the benefits of his method, relating mainly to the authority of Aristotle, Ptolemy and Euclid. His accomplishment opened the way leading to revealing many other invisible assumptions, limiting the possibilities of researching nature. Some of them - the relation of subject and object, the trap of idealisation and usage of the models of researched phenomena - are discussed in the following article. (shrink)

W monografii Radical Entlightenment. Philosophy and the Making of Modernity poświęconej dziejom oświecenia brytyjski historyk Jonathan Irvine Israel sformułował nową tezę dotyczącą datowania, źródeł i charakteru tego okresu historii i przypisał filozofii Spinozy znaczącą rolę w sformułowaniu haseł oświecenia. Jego praca wywołała szereg kontrowersji i uwag krytycznych, dotyczących oceny faktów należących do obszaru historii idei. Artykuł przypomina o interpretacjach roli filozofii Spinozy i o jej wczesnej recepcji, kiedy filozof oddziaływał bezpośrednio. Wydarzenia polityczne w Niderlandach w okresie 1648–1677 oraz losy filozofii (...) Descartes’a są czynnikami wydatnie ingerującymi w kształtowanie się pierwotnej recepcji spinozyzmu i przesądzają na długo o losach tej filozofii. (shrink)

Šiame straipsnyje apžvelgiamos kosmopolitizmo sąvokos sociologinės apibrėžtys ir metodologinio kosmopolitizmo taikymo migracijos tyrimuose privalumai. Apibrėžiant metodologinį kosmopolitizmą kaip tyrimais grindžiamą domėjimąsi žmonėmis, kurie saistosi ne tik nacionaliai ir / ar transnacionaliai, bet ir mato save kaip globalaus pasaulio dalyvį, straipsnyje teigiama, jog kosmopolitizmas suteikia galimybę pamatyti ne tik nacionalius / transnacionalius saistymusis, bet ir situacijas, vietas, erdves, kontekstus, kuriuose minėti saistymaisi suvokiami kaip nereikšmingi. Remiantis požiūriu, jog mobilumas ir transnacionalumas nėra pakankama sąlyga kosmopolitiškoms tapatybėms atsirasti, migracijos tyrimų erdvėje siūloma ieškoti (...) atsakymo į klausimus, kaip, kada ir kodėl mobilumo patirtis gali tapti lankstaus socialinio kapitalo forma ir sukurti socialinius santykius ir gyvenimus su daugialypėmis tapatybėmis. Straipsnis parengtas vykdant LMT finansuojamą projektą „Globalizacijos (transnacionalizmo) poveikis valstybinio ir tautinio tapatumo fragmentacijai (LIVE)“. Sutarties Nr. VAT-41/2012. (shrink)

In the Polish language, there exists the expression ‘interview-river’ meaning a very long interview draining the subject to the greatest possible depth. The article Varieties of Interview-river on given examples covers the analysis of three chosen interview-rivers with three different people. The interviews were discussed in reference to the following aspects: • interview structure • determination of its thematic variety • nature of questions • interviewer – interviewee interaction The conclusions present what is interview-river and what it is characterised by. (...) The aim of this article is to pinpoint the interview-river’s generic features and its functions. (shrink)

Cognitive and behavioral predictors in the process of smoking cessation during pregnancy: Testing for discontinuity patterns in the Transtheoretical Model The aim of the study was to assess predictive power of cognitive variables and health-promoting behaviors for the process of smoking cessation described in terms of the Transtheoretical Model. Participants in the study were 150 women, in uncomplicated pregnancy. Cigarette smokers constituted 29.3% of the sample, while the rest had previously quitted smoking. Beliefs and expectations were measured by means of (...) scales developed by the author, while health-related behaviors were assessed using the Health Behavior Inventory by Z. Juczyński, supplemented with pregnancy-specific behaviors. TTM discontinuity patterns were tested in the study using polynomial-based orthogonal contrasts. Statistically significant linear trends were found for expectations concerning the infant's health state and the course of delivery, for beliefs about the effect of maternal smoking on infant health, as well as for pregnancy health behaviors. The obtained results were confirmed by hierarchical regression analysis, with smoking cessation explained to a larger extent by cognitive factors than by health-related behaviors. This may suggest that the TTM is a "pseudo-stage" model, and a general change of the variables under study is of greater importance for the process of smoking cessation than focusing on the TTM stages. (shrink)

The aim of the study was to determine the role of self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and risk perception in formulating the intention to undergo breast reconstruction in 178 women after total mastectomy. The social-cognitive variables were measured in the context of breast reconstruction, while depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory. The structural equation modeling revealed that among the predictors there were only two that accounted for the intention to undergo breast reconstruction, i.e. self-efficacy and outcome expectancies. Subsequent analyses of (...) the related moderators, i.e. depression, age, and duration of the disease indicated a good fit to the data. Nevertheless, in subgroups with poorer resources the direct effects of self-efficacy on intention were less noticeable or non-existent. The results suggest that self-efficacy may play the regulating role in making a breast reconstruction decision if individual resources are taken into account. (shrink)

This paper provides the theoretical analysis of forms of solidarity in academia and its relationship to academic integrity. This analysis is inspired by the Guidelines for an Institutional Code of Ethics in Higher Education drawn up by the International Association of Universities and the Magna Charta Observatory. These Guidelines refer to the principle of solidarity in the context of international cooperation between higher education institutions. However, the author of this paper believes that this principle might also be used in a (...) broader academic context, in particular, in the field of academic ethics and academic integrity. Therefore, this paper aims at revealing the relevance of solidarity in academia and argues that the principle of solidarity can be considered as one of fundamental principles of academic ethics and should be reflected in the structure and provisions of the codes of academic ethics. For this purpose the author explores the philosophical and sociological approaches towards solidarity and defines the concept of academic solidarity, discusses the conceptual connection between academic solidarity, ethics and integrity and illustrates the impact of solidarity on the development of academic integrity. This analysis allows the author of the paper to recommend embedding the principle of solidarity in the codes of academic ethics of higher education institutions as well as extending the scope of its application by linking the rights and responsibilities of different groups within the academic community in a way that best expresses their unity, shared responsibility, mutual support in meeting the standards of social ethos. (shrink)

Der Artikel wird der Methode der Debatte gewidmet, die seit einigen Jahren in vielen polnischen Schulen angewandt wird. Eine Debatte ist keine freie unordentliche Diskussion, sondern sie hat eine spezifische Struktur, die von den Sprechern beachtet werden muss. Die eine Mannschaft verteidigt eine These, und die zweite stoßt diese These um. Die Mitglieder der beiden Mannschaften sollen Argumente für Verteidigung ihrer Stelle erheben, und auch damit die Argumente der Gegner umstoßen. Diese Mannschaft gewinnt, die nach der Meinung des Richters (Lehrers) (...) den richtigen, ehrlichen und mehr akzeptablen Ansichtspunkt zu dem bestimmten Thema darstellt. Der mit der Methode der Debatte geführte Unterricht ermöglicht Inhalte aus verschiedenen Fächern integrieren, ist also ein Fächer übergreifender Unterricht. Der Anteil an Debatten entwickelt bei Schülern viele Fähigkeiten, die zum Leben in der gegenwärtigen kommerziellen Welt notwendig sind, d.h. zum Beispiel kritisch zu denken, den Entschluss zu fassen und ihre eigene Stellung zu verteidigen. Debatten lehren auch erfolgreiche Teilnahme an dem Dialog und verschiedenen Verhandlungen, bilden die Bereitschaft der Arbeit im leam, die Fähigkeit der Selbstbildung. Das Debattieren bereitet junge Leute auf die Arbeit in vielen Berufen vor, wie z.B. Manager, Journalist, Lehrer, Jurist und auf die zukünftige politische Tätigkeit sowie auf aktive und bewusstsame Teilnahme am Leben der heutigen Gesellschaft. (shrink)

Kluczowe w filozofii Lenartowicza było pojęcie organizmu żywego rozumianego jako cykl życiowy, który będąc powiązany z innymi podobnymi cyklami wplata się w sieć linii pokoleń danego rodzaju istot żywych. Fundamentem cyklu życiowego jest dynamika rozwojowa rozpoczynająca się w momencie poczęcia organizmu. Patrząc na osobnika z perspektywy jego rozwoju, można powiedzieć, że w swej najgłębszej istocie jest on nie tyle i nie przede wszystkim całościową funkcjonalną strukturą, która przejawia życie, ile jest raczej żywą dynamiką, której jednym z zasadniczych przejawów jest zintegrowane (...) budowanie, odbudowywanie, naprawianie i modyfikowanie różnorakich skorelowanych struktur ciała, czyli maszyn molekularnych, organelli i organów, które warunkują zachodzenie różnorodnych procesów biochemicznych i fizjologicznych oraz umożliwiają selektywne interakcje ze środowiskiem abiotycznym i biotycznym. (shrink)

The Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is an intuitive device used by witnesses of an incident without medical training in cases of sudden cardiac arrest. Its operation consists in delivering an electrical pulse to the cardiac conduction system, as a result of which normal heart rate is restored. The lack of awareness in society concerning the usefulness of the device and the inadequate deployment of AEDs result in their too infrequent application by witnesses of incidents. The aim of this paper is (...) to verify whether cluster analysis is the appropriate statistical method to determine the appropriate deployment of AED devices on the basis of cases of sudden cardiac arrest in out-of-hospital conditions. The initial cluster analysis showed the validity of using the method in question for planning the appropriate locations of AEDs. (shrink)

The present article is aimed at substantiating the differentiation of the criminal procedure involving the disabled persons as well as at assessing some standards of protection of rights of the latter participants of the procedure, established in the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania. The provisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, given in the present article, enabled generalizing the following two aspects. The first aspect covers the substantiation of the criminal procedure relating to (...) the criminal acts that the physically or mentally disabled persons are suspected (accused) of and application of compulsory medical measures. Specific form of criminal procedure – procedure of application of compulsory medical measures – institution of criminal procedure, covering several closely interdependent legal norms, establishing particular legal specifics of investigation of criminal act and hearing, is established in the separate structural part (Chapter XXIX) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania. Moreover, though the criminal procedure relating to the acts that the physically or mentally disabled persons are suspected (accused) of is not governed in one place of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is deemed to be a specific form of criminal procedure, since it constitutes particular related legal norms of criminal procedure, determining the exceptions of the general criminal procedure. The second aspect, related to the constitutional doctrine concerning the equality principle, enabled substantiating the specific legal regulation, established and applied to the disabled participants (suspected persons, accused persons, witnesses, aggrieved persons) in the Law on Criminal Procedure. (shrink)

The present article is aimed at dealing with certain questions of compensation for damage, caused by the criminally insane person. Disposal of a civil action on compensation for damage, caused by the criminally insane person, in the criminal procedure is analyzed in the first part of the article. The subjects, who are responsible for compensating for damage, caused by the criminally insane person’s deed, are dealt with in the second part. Not only the respective rules of law, stated in the (...) Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania and in the Criminal Process Code of the Republic of Lithuania, are systemically analyzed in the present article, but the court practice is considered from the aspect of the items, which are relevant to the theme under investigation, and is systematized. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to describe and assess the energetic-metabolic activity of selected muscles of upper and lower extremities during Rotational Training (RT). The influence of RT on temperature changes in the biceps and triceps brachii muscles as well as the quadriceps and biceps femoris muscles of healthy university students were verified, in addition to temperature differences between the left and right side before and after RT. The study was conducted on 18 subjects. RT was conducted in accordance (...) with accepted forms of training methodology of collective fitness. An important part of RT was the performance of circular and rotational movements. Thermograms taken before and immediately after RT focused on 4 regions of selected agonists and synergists in the upper and lower body. The camera used was the infrared hand-held CEDIP Titanium 560M IR (USA), located at a distance of 10 m from the subject. After RT, median Tsk (skin temperature) decreased in almost all of the examined ROIs, except for the left and right Qf (the quadriceps femoris, rectus femoris, and sartorius muscles) as well as the left Tb (triceps brachii) in female subjects. In male subjects, left and right Tsk of Qf increased both for the left and right Tb. Left-Right ΔTsk (temperature difference) was statistically significant (p <0.05) for Of, Bf, Bb, Tb in female as well as male subjects. It was concluded that thermography is a non-invasive, safe, and low-cost method for the recording of physiological response of the skin to RT. (shrink)

Information transfer implies two independent beings and two distinct, although closely tied levels of reality. In other words the „information transfer" is a multi-layer reality. The investigation of the „causal" mechanisms presupposes a proper description of the phenomenal effects. It is the phenomenal sphere of the directly observable events which provokes - in our mind - the questions driving the effort to explore the „mechanisms". It is absolutely crucial, therefore, to approach the process of description with the sufficiently unbiased means. (...) A premature narrowing on the descriptive level may fatally affect our „explanatory" ideas on the underlying mechanisms. For instance, in the realm of „information theories" there is a deeply rooted, but not too reliable conviction, that the descriptive means, used in the process of the construction and utilization of some technical devices, give us a fair chance to describe the „Information transfer" within or between the living creatures. (shrink)

W artykule Jedna czy wiele dusz? Stanisław Ziemiański SJ omawia dwa stanowiska dotyczące problemu genezy duszy ludzkiej – kreacjonizm i traducjanizm. Według nauki Kościoła Katolickiego „każda dusza duchowa jest bezpośrednio stwarzana przez Boga nie jest ona 'produktem' rodziców - i jest nieśmiertelna : DS 1440.), nie ginie więc po jej oddzieleniu się od data w chwili śmierci i połączy się na nowo z ciałem w chwili ostatecznego zmartwychwstania". Jest to stanowisko kreacjonizmu osobowych, indywidualnych dusz ludzkich. Natomiast traducjanizm stoi na stanowisku, (...) że dusza ludzka jest przekazywana dziecku przez rodziców. Pan Bóg stworzył duszę ludzką tylko jeden raz - w momencie powołania do istnienia naszych Prarodziców. I ta „jedna jedyna" dusza przekazywana jest w procesie biologicznego rozmnazania się osób ludzkich. (shrink)

Research on the forced migration of Lithuanians to the east of the former Soviet Union in the 1940s and early 1950s throws up a wide range of issues. Methodologically, most of such studies are similar in terms of the sample chosen, which consists of the former prisoners of gulags and exiles who have returned to Lithuania, but it usually disregards those who stayed. Accordingly, the Lithuanian diasporas that emerged in the east after the forced migration, including in Kazakhstan, have not (...) been studied in detail. In this article, our aim is to answer the questions of how and in what private and public contexts processes of the ethnic identification of the Lithuanian diaspora in Kazakhstan are determined, how ethnic boundaries are drawn, and what cultural and social resources are used for this purpose. As the research revealed, the conceptualisation of ethnicity implied by the Kazakhstan state that has been adopted by our informants eliminates its cultural content, or at most reduces it to forms evident in festive culture, as well as the need and possibilities for its expression. As a result, ethnic identity is constructed on the basis of what is almost the sole criterion: Lithuanian descent in the form of ‘root’ or ‘blood’. For most of our informants, ‘roots’ are just a fact of origin, as shown in the practice of entering Lithuanian ethnicity in personal documents, an officially required practice which does not have and does not presuppose any enactment of ethno-cultural differences. Ethnicity, which is seen as ‘in-rooted’ but also as culture-less and as muted by a doubling of roots among ethnically mixed families of origin, enables a whole spectrum of manipulations of ethnic identity. One such manipulation is attempting to profit from the Lithuanian ethnic identity by turning it into a resource for acquiring benefits. The practice of profiteering from the Lithuanian ethnic identity, and thus its transformation into a resource for gaining benefits in the forms of Lithuanian citizenship and a hope of being repatriated to Lithuania, is probably the most frequent factor in becoming Lithuanian by remembering Lithuanian roots and activating the Lithuanian ethnic identity. (shrink)

The concept of „fundamental unity of life" belongs to the descriptive element of biology. It contrasts with the equally empirical concept of multiplicity and diversity of living forms. „Fundamental unity of life" means that however peculiar a biological form might be, some of its essential mechanisms are exactly the same as in the rest of the biological world. It is astonishing to realize that so different beings as bacteria, plants and men manifest several evidently non fortuitous identities. For thousands of (...) years man has been aware, that many behavioral traits are common to all living beings. Every living being processes matter, multiplies, regenerates, adapts to its surroundings'. During the last century a new, impressive confirmation and amplification of these resemblances was found on the molecular and subcellular level. One may say that the previous, rather raw concepts of nutrition, reproduction, adaptation and regeneration have been replaced by the more or less direct evidence, observable within the single living cells. So the idea of „fundamental unity of life" underwent a legitimate „reduction" to the level of biochemistry. (shrink)

Globalisation, repeated economic (financial) crisis and other contemporary social processes are changing the capability of the state to provide individual social security and guarantee human rights. There is therefore a need to review social policy guidelines and their implementation measures. The problem is how to develop the social security system of state, so that human rights are not violated. For the reformation of the social security system to be consistent, it is also necessary to determine the principles on which the (...) social security system should be based. This article examines the concept of the principle of subsidiarity and its impact on the implementation of socio-economic human rights. The goal of this research is to explore theoretical aspects of application of principle of subsidiarity for ensuring the protection of socio-economic human rights and development of the policy of social security in Lithuania. In order to achieve this goal, the research starts from the analysis of the concept and origin of the principle of subsidiarity and its impact on the implementation of human rights. Further the constitutional basis and levels of application of this principle for implementation of socio-economic human rights are studied. Lastly, according to the principle of subsidiarity, some relevant issues of Lithuanian social security system are evaluated. (shrink)

In English: Epochs and formation an attempt of adaptation reconstruction.

Since more than hundred years the attempts to explain biological adaptations constitute the main current of evolutionary thinking. In 1901 C. LI. Morgan wrote: „The doctrine of evolution has rendered the study of adaptation of scientific importance. Before that doctrine was formulated, natural adaptations formed part of the mystery of special creation, and played a great role in natural theology through the use of the argument from 'design in nature’". The modem doctrine of biology stresses the importance of the environment (...) in „shaping" the inner properties of every living being. This means an obvious although tacit refusal to assume or recognize any single, integrated agent in the origin of main functional biological traits and in the genesis of new kinds of life. The role ascribed to random mutations, and to „pressures of the environment" is just one aspect of the neodarwinian theory. Another aspect of this doctrine is the widespread conviction that all phenomena of life are a natural, both random and necessary result of interactions between constantly changing material objects. (shrink)

Patrząc na osobnika z perspektywy jego rozwoju. można powiedzieć, że w swej najgłębszej istocie jest on nie tyle i nie przede wszystkim całościową funkcjonalną strukturą, która przejawia życie, ile jest raczej żywą dynamiką, której jednym z zasadniczych przejawów jest zintegrowane budowanie, odbudowywanie, naprawianie i modyfikowanie różnorakich skorelowanych struktur ciała, czyli maszyn molekularnych, organelli i organów, które warunkują zachodzenie różnorodnych procesów biochemicznych i fizjologicznych oraz umożliwiają selektywne interakcje ze środowiskiem abiotycznym i biotycznym. Dynamika rozwojowa — w przekonaniu Lenartowicza — jest podstawowym (...) behawiorem każdej istoty żywej i powinna być fundamentem kształtowania właściwej koncepcji życia. (shrink)