Energy-Positive Disintegration of Waste Activated Sludge—Full Scale Study

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of mechanical disintegration of waste activated sludge (WAS) on full scale anaerobic digestion, considering the possibility of obtaining a positive energy balance. The results showed that an increase in energy density (εL) used in disintegration was accompanied by an increase in the release of organic compounds from sludge (SCOD increased from 211 ± 125 mg O2/L for εL = 0 kJ/L to 6292 ± 2860 mgO2/L for εL = 180 kJ/L). Some of them were volatile fatty acids. The percentage share of WAS subject to disintegration was also documented as a crucial parameter affecting the efficiency of biogas production. An increase in the value of this parameter from 25% to 100%, even at much lower εL used in disintegration (therefore with much smaller amounts of organic compounds released from sludge flocs) resulted in an increase in biogas production. Conducting disintegration of the entire stream of WAS directed to the fermentation tank at εL 30 kJ/L resulted in an increase in biogas production by 14.1%. Such a surplus would allow production of approximately 360 kWh/d net electricity. Mechanical disintegration of thickened WAS therefore may be an economically justifiable strategy for the intensification of anaerobic sludge stabilisation.

Managing the Emotional Intensities of Gifted Students with Mindfulness Practices

The emotional intensities of gifted students affect not only their learning, but also the way they live and see the world. This article examines the Theory of Positive Disintegration of Dabrowski to explore the inner world of the gifted. The five levels of development and five overexcitabilities of Dabrowski represent an abundance of physical, sensual, creative, intellectual, and emotional energy that cause inner turmoil but can result in creative endeavors. The benefits of mindfulness practices to meeting the emotional needs of gifted students are presented with examples of deep listening, gratitude, and storytelling as mindfulness practices. A culminating activity of storytelling illustrates the integration of deep listening and gratitude and its effect on the sense of identity of gifted students.

A Muse Mashup: Dabrowski's TPD and an Eisner-esque Approach to Gifted Education

<p>Traditional notions of intelligence are crippling the field of Gifted Education and often, whether explicitly or implicitly, perpetuate inequity and disproportionality throughout the field in both theory and practice (Cross, 2021; Owens et al., 2018). A particular reason for this issue takes root in narrow, monocultural conceptualizations of intelligence, “casting it in singular rather than interactive disciplines and ways of representation” (Eisner as interviewed by Buescher, 1986, p. 7). As we seek to reform Gifted Education, “we will need to release ourselves from the grips of traditional stereotypes about what schools should be, how teaching is to proceed, what appropriate curriculum content entails, and how evaluation should occur” (Eisner, p. 89). Drawing from Dabrowski’s <i>Theory of Positive Disintegration</i> (TPD), particularly notions pertaining to the five Overexcitabilities and Development Potential, as well as Eisner’s ideas concerning knowledge acquisition through diverse forms of representation and ways of knowing, I present various ideas and implications for the field of Gifted Education. These ideas and implications inform many K-12 teaching and learning practices as well. </p> @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

A Muse Mashup: Dabrowski's TPD and an Eisner-esque Approach to Gifted Education

<p>Traditional notions of intelligence are crippling the field of Gifted Education and often, whether explicitly or implicitly, perpetuate inequity and disproportionality throughout the field in both theory and practice (Cross, 2021; Owens et al., 2018). A particular reason for this issue takes root in narrow, monocultural conceptualizations of intelligence, “casting it in singular rather than interactive disciplines and ways of representation” (Eisner as interviewed by Buescher, 1986, p. 7). As we seek to reform Gifted Education, “we will need to release ourselves from the grips of traditional stereotypes about what schools should be, how teaching is to proceed, what appropriate curriculum content entails, and how evaluation should occur” (Eisner, p. 89). Drawing from Dabrowski’s <i>Theory of Positive Disintegration</i> (TPD), particularly notions pertaining to the five Overexcitabilities and Development Potential, as well as Eisner’s ideas concerning knowledge acquisition through diverse forms of representation and ways of knowing, I present various ideas and implications for the field of Gifted Education. These ideas and implications inform many K-12 teaching and learning practices as well. </p> @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

Human development in Kazimierz Dąbrowski's theory of positive disintegration as an expression of reaching psychic maturity

In my article, I analyze how Kazimierz Dąbrowski's theory of positive disintegration can help with understanding the phenomenon of psychic maturity. From the perspective of this conception, the development of a human being is inherently connecting with going towards your ideal, which can't be achieved without mental disturbance and sometimes even psychic breakdown. The loosening of rigid psychic structures should be linking with self-education. This process leads toward the birth of a new person that internalized her hierarchy of values and goals. This hierarchy can't be changed. The theory inscribes the development of the given individual into five key levels that have different inner properties. I shortly analyzed theory and its main components, and after that, I showed how we should understand mental maturity in the light of Kazimierz Dąbrowski's theory.

The origins and conceptual evolution of overexcitability

The construct of overexcitability originated from the condition known as “nervousness.” Dąbrowski differentiated it into types many years before publishing the first outline of his theory of positive disintegration. In this paper, we establish the origins of psychic overexcitability (OE), tracing its evolution in Dąbrowski’s work prior to developing his theory and later through its placement within the concept of developmental potential. Based on our study of Dąbrowski’s early Polish work, we challenge the belief that overexcitability is often misdiagnosed as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Piechowski’s elaboration of OE in gifted education is explored, and current misconceptions and misuses of OEs are critiqued. Based on our review, we present possible future applications and elaborations of overexcitability.

Against the Tide. On the Pedagogy of Freedom in Polish Pedagogical Thought

Among the Eastern European countries in the USSR's sphere of influence, Poland enjoyed the greatest freedom, which puts into question the hasty and evaluative assessments of the then educators, describing some of them as being homo sovietus or homo sovietus-like. The situation was very complex and it is in this perspective where one should undertake research on the past, 20th century pedagogical thought. Regardless of how ideologized Polish education was, it should be noted that many scholars who shaped their theoretical concepts in free, pre-war Poland opposed the promotion of Stalinism in science and education. At the time, the church played a certain positive role in this struggle, which also has to be recognized as a sham of opportunism. The pre-war philosophy of upbringing, particularly deviating from the doctrinal assumptions of Marxism-Leninism, became the main target of the attack, and such outstanding scholars as S. Hessen, B. Nawroczyński, L. Chmaj or K. Sośnicki were subject to harassment on the part of the authorities. The remnant of those times, which still lasts in the present day, is a belief in special value, and sometimes even in the foreground of empirical pedagogy with simultaneous negation of philosophical pedagogy. Meanwhile, it was Hessen who proved that empirical pedagogy - valuable in itself - is a great tool to learn how it is, but silent about how it should be. All teleology, which before the war grew out of philosophical currents (Hessen's neo-Kantism, Lviv-Warsaw school of Nawroczyński and Sośnicki) in the era of primacy of one party was a derivative of its ideology depriving pedagogy of its subjectivity and scientific autonomy. What makes Polish pedagogy of freedom different is the fact of practicing it in historical and philosophical orbit, when we look at it from the substantive side and positive disintegration, when we want to understand it from the personality of its creators.

Pralogicity of the psychologist’s thinking in the context of deep-correctional cognition

The problem of in-depth correctional cognition of the psyche is its pralogical essence is analyzed in the context of a comprehensive, holistic approach to understanding of the psyche. The article for the first time raises the issue of the role of the pralogical essence of the subject’s thinking that influences the organization of ASPC groups. The attention is focused on the fundamental principles of the functioning of ASPC group that set the prerequisites of conflict-free relations that catalyze detection of the pralogical parameters of the psyche. The latter is stipulated by both visualized self-presentation of the ASPC participants and dialogue interaction of a psychologist with a respondent. The works states the possibility of unseen combination of logical thinking with pralogical one. The study presents the characteristics of the pralogical thinking in their neutrality to the controversies, justifies the pralogical nature of the implicit order, etc. The problems of in-depth cognition and ways of overcoming them are dscribed, particularly those associated with pralogical thinking and archaic predeterminancy of the “implicit order” of the psyche, the contradictory nature of its components, which preserves the subordination to the law “involvement”, discovered by L. Levy-Bruhl. The article reveals the prerequisites for the effectiveness of the ASPC diagnostic and corrective process, subject to the law – “positive disintegration of the psyche and secondary integration at a higher level of its development”. The work asserts that the main problems of the in-depth cognition of the psyche envisage taking into account the motivational potential of archaisms, including non-experience entities in their integration with the individualized characteristics of the subject. The peculiarities of introduction of auxiliary (subjectified) means into the in-depth cognition process that enhances its objectivity are disclosed. Besides, the article describes the problem of the psyche dualism that is inherent not only to the functioning of the conscious and the unconscious spheres, but also to a corresponding latent arrangement of the visualized manifestations of the psyche that reflects the “Model of the psyche internal dynamics”, including the “Yin and Yang” symbol.

Psychological Study of Islamic Mysticism in Elif Shafak's The Forty Rules of Love

Mysticism presents, amidst others, a unique worldview to unfold the cosmic mysteries through experiential ways, often rendering mystical experiences somewhat subjective and elusive. This makes it highly pertinent to delve into the human psyche, which is the fountainhead of such experiences. Psychology offers theoretical tools, thereby enabling researchers to resolve riddles at one hand and enriching their understanding on the other. It is almost in the same vein that the current research is carried out, namely analyzing mystical experience from a psychological perspective. The paper contends that the culmination of a mystic's experience of the Divine is equated with his psychological wellbeing and emotional development. Drawing on Kazimierz Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration, the researchers study a literary text, The Forty Rules of Love, written by Elif Shafak. The findings of this research lead to a nullification of the confusion of mystical experiences with psychological disorders.