Ultrasonic Sensors Enabling Early Detection of Emergency Trends and Analysis of Structure Inclination and Stability by Means of Highly Accurate Level Measurements.

Building inclinations can be measured through the use of ultrasonic hydrostatic levelers. These are used to measure long-term relative displacements of vertical parts of structures and utilize the principle of communicating vessels (similar to the classic water scales). The presented ultrasonic displacement measurement technique was developed by Ultrasystem in the 1990s and was applied to several objects in Poland. Long-term measurements enabled the development of a model of object behavior under the influence of various factors. Among these are the annual cycle of temperature changes, fluctuating water levels, turbine chamber emptying, etc. Such a model can facilitate the prediction of failure based on the appearance of changes deviating from typical behavior (e.g., a much stronger dependence of the inclination as a function of the water level). The results obtained with the help of ultrasonic sensors enable the observation of subtle deformations of the object, which is valuable when developing and calibrating new models of the object (e.g., by means of the finite element method).

Habitat preferences of two sparrow species are modified by abundances of other birds in an urban environment.

Every species has certain habitat requirements, which may be altered by interactions with other co-occurring species. These interactions are mostly ignored in predictive models trying to identify key habitat variables correlated with species population abundance/occurrence. We investigated how the structure of the urban landscape, food resources, potential competitors, predators, and interaction between these factors influence the abundance of house sparrow Passer domesticus and the tree sparrow P. montanus in sixty 25 ha plots distributed randomly across residential areas of the city of Poznan (Poland). The abundance of the house sparrow was positively correlated with the abundance of pigeons but negatively correlated with human-related food resources. There were significant interaction terms between abundances of other urban species and habitat variables in statistical models. For example, the abundance of house sparrow was negatively correlated with the abundance of corvids and tree sparrows but only when food resources were low. The abundance of tree sparrows positively correlated with density of streets and the distance from the city center. The abundance of this species positively correlated with the abundance of corvids when food resources were low but negatively correlated at low covers of green area. Our study indicates that associations between food resources, habitat covers, and the relative abundance of two sparrow species are altered by the abundance of other urban species. Competition, niche separation and social facilitation may be responsible for these interactive effects. Thus, biotic interactions should be included not only as an additive effect but also as an interaction term between abundance and habitat variables in statistical models predicting species abundance and occurrence.

Effect of selected factors on the functional capacity of patients in the early period following intracranial aneurysm surgery.

Background. Many authors believe that the functional capacity of patients in the early period following intracranial aneurysm surgery influences their long-term capacity and quality of life. The purpose of our study was to estimate whether selected factors such as gender, age, aneurysm location, clinical manifestation, type of surgery, length of hospitalization and clinical condition prior to surgery have an effect on the functional capacity of patients in the early period following intracranial aneurysm surgery. Material and methods. The study was conducted in the Neurosurgery and Neurotraumatology Department of the Jurasz Clinical Hospital in Bydgoszcz. We examined 97 patients after intracranial aneurysm surgery, using direct observation and measurement. The patients' condition was assessed using standard neurosurgical scales (Hunt.