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The article concerns using of SIS (Spatial Information System) technology in dynamic Smart City management. SIS technology tools have become an integral part of urban space management. The mentioned technology is used by more and more smaller cities. Although SIS is becoming more and more popular, the application of different types of tools using it still encounters different types of barriers. Meanwhile, the dynamic management of Smart City is becoming more and more complex, it requires new tools. SIS technology can provide such utilities. However, their implementation is slowed down by various barriers. The aim of the study was to identify barriers that slow down the implementation of SIS technology tools. For this purpose, a five-level model of SIS technology application development was worked out. The model shows the direction of development of SIS technology application, and thanks to it, it was indicated what barriers may appear when moving to the next levels. In order to identify them, a two-stage empirical study was carried out in Polish cities with a population of about 100,000. Their aim was first to check, whether the examined cities use SIS technology tools. This was confirmed by the survey conducted by means of electronic observation. Afterwards, studies were conducted in 13 medium-sized cities in Poland. Based on the results, the model of development of SIS technology application was positively verified by assigning an appropriate level of development to each of the examined cities. Barriers were then identified and included: mental, financial, organizational and legal, information, technological and mental barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measured meteorological time series are frequently used to obtain information about climate dynamics. We use time series analysis and nonlinear system identification methods in order to assess outdoor-environment bioclimatic conditions starting from the analysis of long historical meteorological data records. We investigate and model the stochastic and deterministic properties of 117 years (1891–2007) of monthly measurements of air temperature, precipitation and sunshine duration by separating their slow and fast components of the dynamics. In particular, we reconstruct the trend behaviour at long terms by modelling its dynamics via a phase space dynamical systems approach. The long-term reconstruction method reveals that an underlying dynamical system would drive the trend behaviour of the meteorological variables and in turn of the calculated Universal Thermal Climatic Index (UTCI), as representative of bioclimatic conditions. At longer terms, the system would slowly be attracted to a limit cycle characterized by 50–60 years cycle fluctuations that is reminiscent of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). Because of lack of information about long historical wind speed data we performed a sensitivity analysis of the UTCI to three constant wind speed scenarios (i.e. 0.5, 1 and 5 m/s). This methodology may be transferred to model bioclimatic conditions of nearby regions lacking of measured data but experiencing similar climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the 1990s the "winds of change" blew through Europe, leading to the fall of Communism and regime change in several Eastern-European countries. The domino effect started in Poland with the Round Table negotiations that ultimately led to democratization of the country. The context that allowed this historical event to occur has been studied, but the talks themselves have not been analyzed in detail. In this article, we undertake this task. Using several complementary analytical approaches – negotiation theory, turning points analysis and dynamical systems – we study the process of getting to an agreement, focusing on the seven key issues of the negotiations. We treat the Round Table Talks both as a unique case of negotiations, given its structure and the context in which it happened, as well as an event comparable to other negotiations and connecting to the broader negotiation literature. Results of our inquiries show the importance of procedures during the talks and highlight the role played by motivation in propelling the negotiating parties to an agreement. We discuss the implications of our findings for negotiation theory and for the broader context of the historical event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) was established in 2003 by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) with the main goal to deepen understanding of the dynamic Earth system by quantifying human-induced Earth's changes in space and time. GGOS allows not only for advancing Earth Science, including solid Earth, oceans, ice, atmosphere, but also for better understanding processes between different constituents forming the system Earth, and most importantly, for helping authorities to make intelligent societal decisions. GGOS comprises different components to provide the geodetic infrastructure necessary for monitoring the Earth system and global changes. The infrastructure spreads from the global scale, through regional, to national scales. This contribution describes the GGOS structure, components, and goals with the main focus on GGOS activities in Poland, including both the development of the geodetic observing infrastructure as well as advances in processing geodetic observations supporting GGOS goals and providing high-accuracy global geodetic parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue consists of selected papers presented on the 14th International Conference on "Dynamical Systems — Theory and Applications" (DSTA 2017), held on December 11–14, 2017 in Łódź, Poland. The content of the presented articles includes modern states and contemporary perspectives of mathematical modeling, simulation, stability, control and new mathematical methods addressed to nonlinear dynamical systems, both in theoretical aspects and practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although rapid social change reflects each society's unique combination of myriad social, historical, political, and economic factors, we argue that the defining features of such change can be understood with recourse to the dynamic processes inherent in complex systems. Accordingly, we present a formal model that describes, in minimalist terms, the dynamics associated with rapid societal transitions in a society's norms and attitudes-and to the potential for rapid reversals of these transitions. The model predicts that societies in the midst of rapid change are characterized by dual realities corresponding to the new and the old, so that models focusing only on changes in the central tendency of a societal attitude provide a misleading account of rapid social change. This model is implemented in computer simulations and validated with empirical data concerning the transition in Eastern Europe from communism to democracy and a free market economy in the late 1980s., (© 2018 The British Psychological Society.)