Wyniki wyszukiwania - BazTech

1

Nonstandard Constructional Solutions in Contemporary Clothing Design

Owczarek M., Nawrot A., Łukawska M., Wereszka A., Grzejszczak Ł., Mastalerz P.

Autex Research Journal

|

2016

|

Vol. 16, no. 4

250--255

EN

The paper presents the influence of the design process on making the nonstandard patterns—constructional solutions in contemporary clothing design. A few examples of design processes have been presented, differing because of the source of inspiration and individuality of the designer in his or her strive to create original clothing forms. The influence of various factors connected with the development of new constructional solutions in clothing (including social, ideological, resulting from fashion trends, and the impact of the environment) has also been presented.

2

Śmierć pięknej teorii, według której dwutlenek węgla decyduje o ziemskim klimacie

Mastalerz P.

Wiadomości Chemiczne

|

2008

|

[Z] 62, 5-6

533-554

EN

The theory that carbon dioxide rules the Earth's climate is so well established that any attempts to tell that it is false and harmful to world's economy are met with very fierce opposition. The opponents have not much to support their claims but are strongly backed up financially by those who are not able to abandon the wrong idea that our climate depends on the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. This old idea is disproved by the unquestionable fact that in the past there was no correlation of CO2 concentration with temperature. The claims that there is a consensus concerning carbon dioxide and global warming were disproved by a letter of scientists to the Secretary General of United Nations. The letter warns against the politics of fighting global warming and against the acceptance of the "precautionary principle". This article provides a very brief overview of past climates and of the effects of Sun on the climate on Earth. The role of cosmic rays is considered and explained. A quick excursion into deep space gives an idea of how the climate depends on the wandering of the Sun with its planets across the spiral arms of our Galactic. Separate chapters include examples of attempts to scare the humanity with climatic disasters and of the role of left-wing politicians in climate science.

3

Krótki kurs historii POP. Część trzecia : dioksyny

Mastalerz P.

Wiadomości Chemiczne

|

2004

|

[Z] 58, 3-4

293--337

EN

Dioxins as a class of chemical compounds were defined with consideration of their biological properties rather than structure of molecules. Their structures are quite diverse and include all chlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans as well as some chlorinated biphenyls. The common feature of several (but not all) dioxins is their pronounced toxicity to animals. The best known and most toxic is the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin, simply referred to as dioxin or TCDD. Dioxins are produced by virtually all industrial processes involving organic matter and chlorine at elevated temperatures. In the past the incineration of communal wastes was a particularly important source of dioxin but gases emitted by modern waste incinerators do contain less TCDD than ambient air. For many years it was believed that dioxins are man-made compounds without natural sources but that belief was disproved by the discovery of TCDD in forty million years old clay deposits. Evidence is mounting that forest fires and burning of coal, wood and peat in domestic hearths are the most important sources of dioxins. A dioxin-free world is not possible because man has little control over forest fires and there is no way to curtail the burning of dioxin-producing fuels in homes, partricularly in poor countries. Dioxins are in our bodies and around us. The fat of humans not exposed to large concentrations of dioxins contains TCDD at concentrations of several pg/g. The dioxin levels in the air are at the level of several pg/m3. Concentrations larger by orders of magnitude are in soils around the world and in sediments and sewage sludges. Dioxins in human bodies are derived from the food we eat. The concentrations in food vary within wide limits, from less than 1 pg/g in vegetables to more than 100 pg/g in some fishes. There are scientists who express grave concern over possible harmful effects of dioxins in food but scientific evidence demostrates that such concerns are totally unfounded. After all the dioxins were on our planet since the beginning of mankind and even before and nobody was ever able to provide evidence of their harmfulness. On the contrary, there are many examples of highly exposed industrial workers who suffered no adverse effects although their blood contained several hundred times more dioxins than the blood of the general population. It is commonly believed that TCDD is the most toxic man-made compound, is highly carcinogenic and presents a very serious risk to human health. These are unfounded beliefs without any support by scientific evidence. The only demonstrated dioxin-related human disease is chloracne, a skin disease associated with heavy exposure to TCDD. In some cases chloracne persists for one or two years but never threatens the life of victims. Medicine knows of no case of human death due to dioxins. This simple fact strongly contradicts the belief that dioxins are deadly poisonous to humans.

4

Krótki kurs historii POP. Część druga : PCB

Mastalerz P., Kluczyk A.

Wiadomości Chemiczne

|

2004

|

[Z] 58, 1-2

81--130

EN

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) belong to the family of POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) which WHO (World Health Organization), EPA (Environment Protection Agency) and other prestigious institutions pronounced to be a very serious health hazard to humans and animals. It appears, however, that this pronouncement is without solid support in published scientific papers. PCBs were commercially produced since 1929 for use in electrical capacitors and transformers. It is estimated that a total of 1.5 million tons were made until the production was terminated worldwide in late 1970s. About one half of the produced amount is contained in electrical equipments which are still in use while the other half entered the environment. The presence of detectable concentrations of PCBs and their persistence in air, water and in living organisms raised concerns that human and animal health may be adversely affected. Health considerations stimulated a very intense research activity which continues unabated from 1966 with the objective of finding evidence of harmful properties of PCBs. Such evidence has not been found yet apart from some minor effects which are without serious consequences. PCBs appear to be quite harmless chemicals even when handled without proper care. This is evident from the fact that there was no single human death although several cases of poisoning by PCBs were reported. The most publicized are the accidents in Japan and Taiwan which affected about 3000 victims. However, the most serious effects were reversible dermal lesions. The most recent case of accidental poisoning occured in Belgium in 1999. The brouhaha in media was enormous although no human health effects were evident. The case of PCBs is just another example of chemophobia instigated by irresponsible enviromentalists. The three decades of PCB research resulted in enormous improvements in the analysis of trace contaminants. It is now possible to detect and quantitate each of the over one hundred PCB congeners present at concentrations in the ppb range. There are 209 PCB congeners with different numbers and positions of chlorine atoms. This article is based on a thorough search of the literature from late 1960th to the present. Unfortunately it was impossible to read all papers on PCBs in the environment because over three hundred articles are published every year. We took care, however, to learn and present the views of scientists who firmly believe that PCBs are very harmful as well as of those who do not think so. We were able to discover some very drastic examples of papers with unfounded conclusions.

5

Krótki kurs historii POP. Część pierwsza : DDT

Mastalerz P.

Wiadomości Chemiczne

|

2003

|

[Z] 57, 7-8

671--775

EN

Since the discovery of its marvellous insecticidal properties by Paul Mueller in 1939, DDT continues to stir human minds and to inspire countless scientists to study DDT effects on living creatures, from bacteria and insects to humans. There is probably no other chemical compounds which was studied as extensively and thoroughly as DDT and which provoked so many discussions and contradictory opinions. DDT was prized as the most useful compound which saved millions from unnecessary death due to malaria but was also condemned as a deadly poison threatening the life on Earth. It is important to know where is the truth. This article was inspired by the fact that the voices of condemnation prevail in popular and scientific literature and, in the consequence, most people believe that DDT is harmful and its banning was prudent. However, the truth is quite different but it is deeply buried and difficult to find in the multitude of publications dealing with the biological properties of DDT. The problem is more difficult because of the fact that the oldest and most fundamental papers on biological activity of DDT are now forgotten and are never quoted in recent literature. My purpose is to remedy that situation by giving an unbiased picture of the good and bad sides of DDT such as emerges from a thorough search of the literature. In this article I provide evidence that the ban of DDT was a very serious mistake and that DDT continues to serve the mankind in its fight against malaria, in disregard of all bans and condemnations. Nobody seems to remember now that after the ban in 1970s the temporary retreat from using DDT against mosquitoes killed several hundred million people which unnecessarily died of malaria. It appears that DDT ban stands out as the biggest homicidal act in all history of mankind. Responsibility is of course with politicians who voted for the ban and the scientists who advised them to do so. There are still other reasons why it was necessary to write this article. My purpose is not to vindicate DDT but to expose the multitude of false opinions about that insecticide. Thus, it is not true that DDT is cancerogenic in humans or that its hormonal properties threaten our survival, as prophesized by authors of some recent books. It is also not true that DDT was ever a serious hazard for fish and wildlife. DDT never threatened hawks and eagles or pelicans and the countless papers which say otherwise are simply wrong. I provide plenty of published evidence in support of my efforts to rectify mistakes and deliberate lies which are so common in the literature on biological efffects of DDT. Unfortunately my litereature search revealed that in several cases the public was deliberately misled by scientists, who helped with their publications to spread false opinions about DDT. This provokes severe doubts concerning the integrity of ecologically minded scientists.

6

Nie ma problemu środowiskowych estrogenów

Mastalerz P.

Wiadomości Chemiczne

|

2002

|

[Z] 56, 5-6

483-494

EN

In ecological literature the term "environmental estrogens" refers to industrial compounds which contaminate the environment and have estrogen-like biological activity. In a strict sense the term should include also estrogens produced by plants (phytoestrogens) but these are scarcely mentioned by environmentalists who all their attention concentrate on man-made chemicals. The first observation of hormonal activity of an industrial chemical dates back to 1950 when Burlingtion et al. reported that DDT affects the secondary sex characteristics of male birds. Similar observations multiplied in later years but the observed effects were always weak or very weak and did not attract much interest. The situation changed when environmentalists became aware of the huge propaganda potential of estrogenic activity of pesticides such as DDT and begun using that activity as one of the tools helping their efforts to bring about a ban of man-made pesticidal compounds. In many ecological publications the hormonal activity of industrial compounds was suitably enlarged and horrifying scenarios were developed, some of them predicting even the end of mankind due to cancer and catastrophic reduction of fertility. As usual, the mass media are happily helping to ring the alarm bells. Fortunately there are several reasons to dismiss the environmental estrogens scare. First of all, plants such as rice, wheat, cabbage, potatoes and many other contain substantial amounts of compounds with estrogenic activity but are eaten daily without harm. And there are no scientific grounds to believe that industrial estrogens are more harmful than phytohormones. Some specific and very recent developments in the field of environmental estrogens include the fertility of males, the alleged synergistic potentiation of weak estrogens and the problem of their cancerogenic activity. The problem of fertility emerged with a publication by Danish scientists who claimed that the sperm counts in otherwise healthy men are very rapidly decreasing. For obvious reasons the problem received much attention and the Danish publication was followed by several papers on sperm counts, e. g. However, no one was able to confirm the claims of Danish scientists. The problem of synergism ended with a scandal. The paper claiming a thousandfold increase of estrogenic activity when mixtures are applied instead of single compounds was retracted and one of the authors admitted cheating (Science, 294, 763 (2001)) Finally, the accusation that DDE (one of the metabolites of DDT) is responsible for breast cancer in women was convincingly disproved. And so ended the environmental estrogens scare.

7

Kłamstwa ekologiczne

Mastalerz P.

Wiadomości Chemiczne

|

2000

|

[Z] 54, 3-4

227-323

EN

The popular perception of environmental threats is marred by severe misconceptions originating from false information relentlessly propagated by dishonest ecowarriors in collusion with sensation-seeking mass media. The purpose of this article is to denounce the most blatant lies and to show their ideological, tactical and political backgrounds. Discussed are also the potentially harmful consequences of present environmental policies for the well-being of humanity. The article opens with a presentation of some seemingly trifle but characteristic ecological lies and then proceeds with a discussion of misinformation concerning the most serious ecological problems includin industrial pollutants, combustion of municipal solid waste, global climate change, ionizing radiation hazards and the present frenzy concerning the electromagnetic smog. Chemical pollutants discussed here include heavy metals, pesticides, nitrates and various chlorinated organic compounds with special consideration of dioxin and other persistent organochlorine. A separate chapter deals with cancerogenic chemical products. The critique of common misconceptions is based on thorough evaluation of frequently conflicting scientific evidence but intricate details of scientific discissions are avoided for a more distinct exposure of basic tenets. It is shown that several difficult environmental problems are best resolved by application of basic knowledge and common sense. The chemical and radiation threats are presented together with a discussion of the linear hypothesis which states that there are no safe doses of harmful agents. This hypothesis is een as the most important cause of the now prevailing fears of chemistry and of ionizing radiation. Numerous verbatim quotations from articles in daily newspapers and weekly magazines demonstrate that incompetent and frequently histerical reporting is at the backround of many environmental scares which are now haunting the mankind

8

Biogenne związki halogenoorganiczne

Mastalerz P.

Wiadomości Chemiczne

|

1998

|

[Z] 52, 9-10

643--671

PL

Nawoływania organizacji 'proekologicznych' do zaniechania przemysłowej produkcji związków chloru spowodowały wzrost zainteresowania związkami fluorowców w biosferze. W dyskusji na temat zagrożeń wywołanych przez związki chloroorganiczne pochodzenia przemysłowego zabrała nawet głos Międzynarodowa Unia Chemii Czystej i Stosowanej (IUPAC), wydając w roku 1996 specjalny zeszyt czasopisma 'Pure and Applied Chemistry', zatytułowany IUPAC White Book on Chlorine [1]. Interesującym przyczynkiem do dyskusji uczonych z ekowojownikami jest artykuł pt. Rachel's Folly:: The End of Chlorine, rozpowszechniany przez Internet [2]. Moim głosem w tej dyskusji jest artykuł w 'Wiadomościach Chemicznych' pt. Organiczne związki fluorowców w biosferze [3]. W niniejszym opracowaniu zupełnie pomijam sprawy ochrony środowiska i ograniczam się do pokazania chemicznej różnorodności biogennych związków halogenoorganicznych, ich rozpowszechnienia w przyrodzie i aktywności biologicznej. Ogrom zagadnienia (około 2400 związków opisanych w ponad 2200 publikacjach ogłoszonych do roku 1994 [4] narzucił konieczność daleko idącej selekcji cytowanego piśmiennictwa i ograniczenia omawianych związków do najbardziej reprezentatywnych przykładów. Dla prostoty pomijam we wzorach szczegóły stereochemiczne. Wzory pokazujące nie tylko konstytucję, ale także przestrzenną budowę wszystkich biogennych związków halogenoorganicznych opisanych do połowy roku 1994 zawiera monografia G.W. Gribble'a [4].

EN

For proper assessment and understanding of the environmental impact of industrial organohalogen compounds it is necessary to consider also the emission of these compounds from natural sources. This, however, is usually omitted from discussions on environmental pollution by chemical industry although there is ample evidence that the scale of synthesis of organohalogens by bacteria, plants and animals is much larger than their production by human endeavour. Recent developments demonstrate that all forms of life synthesize organohalogen compounds. The total number of biogenic compounds containing fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine which have been isolated from microorganisms, plants and animals as of 1997 approaches three thousands and is growing rapidly. The halogens apper in all conceivable types of chemical structures from simple halogenated alkanes to plicyclic molecules of astounding complexity. This review presents a selection of over one hundred structures ranging from methyl chloride to prymnesin, a molecule containing three chlorine atoms attached to a polyunsaturated, continuous chain of 90 carbon atoms twisting its way through thirteen tetrahydropyran and one oxacycloheptane ring. The main focus is on chemical structures but there are provided also the sources of origin of individual compounds and brief comments on biological activity.